The nausea hit my stomach and my heart dropped as I looked at the blood-stained hallway on the TV screen. My mom had the news on, and they were reporting on the terrorist attack on the satirical French magazine Charlie Hebdo. The attack killed 12 people.

Twelve.

Twelve innocent people, most of them journalists, murdered. For what? For some scribbles on paper?

Any death is wrong and painful and senseless, especially innocents like these 12.

Secondary to the loss is the threat this attack poses to our rights. Some governments allow free speech and press, like ours and France’s, but these attacks encourage the worst type of censorship: self-censorship. Following the financial loss of the Sony hacking scandal and the human loss of this tragedy, outlets are feeling pressure even more to ignore controversial topics.

But we can’t ignore them. We have to listen to and protect each voice, each opinion, each word and little scribble on paper. Because without them, we’re living in a fantasy, homogenized, boring world.

The Kirkwood Call cannot thank the community and administration enough for allowing us to do what we do without censorship of any kind. I hope the rest of the world can follow our example, and that no more lives will be lost in the pursuit of that kind of world.