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| Freedom Writers Diary Erin Gruwell |
January 6, 2017
Book 1 - Freedom Writers Diary
Part 6 - Pages 272-314
Reading Time - 50 minutes
This edition of the book has an Afterword with diary entries from some of the students 10 years after the original publication date. The students have struggled and matured. It hasn't all been sunshine and roses, but there greatest lesson is this:
Everyone has a story and that story needs to be shared.They hope that in reading their stories, we will be inspired to pick up the pen and be a catalyst for change. It is a direct call to action for they believe that the pen can be a means of revolution.
I was reminded of a science fiction book I read as a teenager, Fahrenheit 951 by Ray Bradbury. In the not so distant future, books are banned and outlawed. No one reads books. No one writes books. People see everything that they need to see on the flickering wall screens. The hear everything that they need to hear through the audio devices in their ears. Except for a few guardians of the written word, outcasts from society, who have memorized entire books. There is a reason why dictatorships engage in censorship and book burning. The written word has a power that few things can match. It can spread farther than the spoken word. It can spread deeper. It can be read over and over again.
We all have a story to share, a story that connects us with others. Our thoughts, our beliefs are just as valid as the next person's and need to be expressed. So, in the words of the Freedom Writers - Be Real.
On to the next book, a vision of a dystopian future that I also read in high school - 1984 by George Orwell. I remember little of it and it will be interesting to see how it speaks to me today.
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