Why you should read depressing things

Recent events and stories have pushed me to want to write this essay on censorship. It’s been a while since I’ve written any essays, and I feel like I’m beating a dead horse with this topic, but it’s important.

First off, J.D. Salinger died on Wednesday. Which is kind of a bummer. Reading about him, he strikes me as kind of a douchebag, but you can’t deny the importance of his legacy — namely “Catcher in the Rye.” I was a little too old to fully appreciate the work when I read it (a sophomore in college, on the cusp), but it still touched me deeply and I enjoyed it.

It’s hard not to identify with Holden Caulfield, especially when you’re an angry, confused youth living in a tumultous world. You can’t help but feel his frustration with “phonies,” share his apathy toward his schoolwork and classmates, understand how confused and tormented he is. Much more has been written on this subject, and I can’t do it justice here but to say that kids should read it, if only to see you’re not alone, and to learn, at a painfully early age, that it doesn’t really get much better.

So, Salinger, you may have been an a-hole, but god speed in the hereafter. Your work lives on, whether you want it to or not. And now maybe people can actually work with your material without you freakin’ out and suing everybody.

“Catcher in the Rye” leads me to my next topic. A definitive edition of Anne Frank’s diary — one that restores the censorship enacted by her father, Otto Frank, who cut out some mentions of sexuality and criticisms of Jews and the people she was living with — was removed from the shelves of a Virginia school because a parent didn’t like the mention of the vagina.

Look out. Some people have vaginas. We can’t talk about them.

I was dismayed to read this article, which came across our AP entertainment wire. I’m always dismayed to read of censorship. It sucks that parents don’t want their kids to learn about vaginas, and that people are critical of others, and that some friction arises when you’re hiding from Nazis in a secret attic. All important lessons, I would argue.

But more than that, I was interested in the end of the article, which talks about banned books. To quote:

“According to Amazon.com, “Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl,” tops the list of commonly banned children’s books in public schools nationwide.

“The reason listed for banning this book is “for being too depressing for students.” Other books that made the Amazon list include “The Catcher in the Rye,” “Harry Potter,” “Of Mice and Men,” and “Harriet the Spy,” to name a few.”

This I find very interesting. Banning a book “for being too depressing for students.” Wow. Just wow.

You know, I’m a depressive. I have been since childhood–one of those rare people who came out of the womb depressed. It happens. I started medication in the last six months, and it’s made my moods fluxtate like mad, and I’m not sure if it’s really happening. But anyway. The point is, I’m a depressive.

Now then. Anne Frank’s diary. Is it depressing? Why yes, it is. You know what else is depressing? The Holocaust in general. Let’s stop teaching it.

The American Civil War really depresses me too. We should just eliminate it. 9/11? Too depressing, didn’t happen. That whole recession thing we’re in? Pssh, that’s way to depressing, I’m just going to pretend it didn’t exist. And that earthquake that killed thousands in Haiti? I’ll just pretend it never happened and close my eyes and ears to all that suffering.

You can’t ignore something just because it’s depressing. Life is depressing. The world is depressing. The atrocities that mankind wreaks on itself are really, really fucking depressing. That’s why they should be taught.

America is doing such a lousy job of raising its kids these days, you know? It’s always some fucking excuse. Always with the drugs, the “everyone’s perfect and unique” approach, parents afraid to discipline their kids, and the result is this total apathy that would stun even Holden Caulfield. They don’t care about anything, not schoolwork, not getting a job, not even giving one another support and aid. They’re hopped up on Ritalin and glued to their cell phones and just mindless, utterly mindless and heartless.

So now we get this argument that something is too depressing? So it shouldn’t be taught? How much are we going to shield kids from the real world? People are already touchy over anything related to sex — hence that parent getting all uppity over Anne Frank’s vagina. But now we don’t want people to read anything that might make them feel a little sad?

The world is a very ugly, harsh place. There are lots of bad people — from terrorists who hijack planes to mommies who shield their kids from proper sexual education — who do things every day to have a negative impact on the world. The feeling of depression (a word I’m using despite being not sure depression is really the appropriate term) is pervasive, and it touches everyone at some point in their lives.

Shielding kids from books that might contain info or scenes that make them depressed isn’t a soltuion. Sadness is a healthy emotion. It’s not a pleasant one, but you need to feel it sometimes. I mean, fuck, are we raising a bunch of psychopaths or something? Seems that way, since no one ever complains about all the violence on TV, movies and video games. That’s all acceptable, but whoa, the suggestion that people might feel sad? Look out.

I’m just one person in this world. I’m not really making a difference with my blog. I’m crumby, right, and I know it, and I have no lasting impact on anything I touch. But for god’s sake, it’s just common sense. You can’t hide things that are unpleasant from people. It’s part of life. Children will go through things that depress them. They’ll have a bad relationship. They won’t get a job they applied for. Maybe they’ll fail a test, fail to make a team they tried out for, or botch up a roast. Failure happens. Things are depressing.

We have to teach children compassion. It seems to me Ameirca gets more and more heartless every year. We have all these shootings all the time, where some madman enters a mall or school or courthouse or opens fire. Kids shoot up their schools. We have fourth graders hang themselves. This is depressing.

It may seem counter to your common sense that we should increase the books that expose people to sad and depressing things, but we need to. We need to encourage open discussion of these events. We need to encourage compassion, volunteering, selflessness, to help the world repair.

We have to show kids how to deal with bad things. I think one of the many problems contributing to today’s youth — and here I know I sound lke an old fart, despite being 23 — is that they don’t know how to deal with disappointment and depression. The solution too often is violent and ignorant. We shielded kids from everything bad, and look where it got us. We need to expose kids to some depressing things, and then we need to show them how to help. Whether it’s volunteering to build a house, or donating blood to the Red Cross, or tutoring someone in school, we need to show kids that there are positives out there. And that if they have a problem, the answer is not to put a gun to someone’s head, or their own.

We shielded them from the truly depressing things, so kids came up with their own depression substitutes. “Ooh he called me fat, I’m going to shoot him. He broke up with me, I’m going to kill myself. My only solution is to fight, to kill, to kill myself.” These things that kids stress over, become depressed about, are not really dire things. We shielded them from the stuff that really matters.

I know it seems like a small thing, but it’s easy. Let kids read something depressing, like Anne Frank’s diary, or “The Catcher in the Rye.” Discuss these issues. And show them how to counteract the negatives and better their community, instead of shutting down.

But what do I know?

All these phonies.