Book Burning

I was going to soften you up with a little recap of that nutty Pastor who was going to burn the Quran for no other reason than he's a nut, but I opted to skip that and jump right into the part about book burning. More specifically, the fact that I have actually burned a book. Well, not me, but I was an accomplice and I lit the fire.

Now, don't get all upset. I didn't participate because of censorship or because I was feeling hateful about the author or the subject matter. It was purely a stress reliever and celebration. Really. My son was sentenced  invited to read The Zimmerman Telegram when he was 13. It was the lovely consolation prize for the children who were considered "gifted" and therefore deserved some additional opportunities. The teacher (and I use that term loosely) who assigned the book was one I had issues with. She tried to teach the kids "no taxation without revolution". Anyway, she gave the students involved photocopies of the book. That's right. She photocopied ten copies of an entire book. Then fun really began.

That book was as dry as burnt toast. If you love history, I'm sure you'd have been in heaven, but my son and I were gagging it down. In support of this lovely program, I had agreed to read it with him. What was I thinking? We slogged through it and when it was all over... we burned it. We pulled out the pages and lit a fire in the firebowl in the backyard. We took turns gleefully tossing the pages into the flames. It was a celebration of having made it through the punishment  reward and coming out unscathed. It was actually pretty fun.

So, yes. I did once participate in a book burning. Shocked? Maybe sometime I'll tell you about the book I *gasp* threw away!