You can be offended; it’s your right. You can tell people what they should say and what they should believe in. You can even lead them down a path that was not necessarily their own. There are those that will see your actions and hear your words, and because of them, follow you. Still, there will be those that do not agree with either your actions or words. And I will say this; that none of you are wrong if you are all right and none of you are right if you’re all wrong. Yet clinging to a belief and not allowing others the same freedom of belief is wrong.

Yes, I hide behind my words. I feel safe within the confines of my own thought. And yes, I throw those thoughts out into the world for others to see – if they choose. Those that choose to read my thoughts, whether fact or fancy, do not need to subscribe to the same beliefs or thoughts as I. I do not require that they have the same mindset as I. as a matter of fact, prefer that they do not as my preference is that my words create a dialogue between minds. I wish that my pages be filled with the treasure of difference, not indifference. What if there were only red roses?

You can stand high upon a pedestal or spout oration from behind a podium. You may even preach from behind a pulpit. Or you may write in a journal that none other may read. Your words are yours just as your actions. Sometimes your silence is a louder shout than you think. Yet at what point do we start to think that ours is the only true voice? When did we start to believe that ours is the only path that leads to our destination? It should not be mandated that our caring for one another hinge solely upon an agreement of thought. We are standing too close to the portent(?) of 1984*.

I can attest to the banning of books in my schools as a child. I’ve heard if people being murdered for their belief. I’ve watched on television statues being crumbled in a vain effort to erase a troubled past. I am not just talking about other countries as it is happening throughout my own as well. Here we are in an age where we say we believe in the right of freedoms, yet we dictate what words may be spoken and what we might see or wish to show the world. It is disheartening for me to witness. Some may be offended, and they just might be the ones to come to burn my books.

• 1984, a novel by George Orwell