The news that some schools are banning the novels of Toni Morrison is cause for alarm. The notion of protecting impressionable students from the uncertainties of the world and the potential for dark human impulses must be dispelled.

Years ago, a student complained to me after we read “Dubliners” by James Joyce, asking, “Why do we have to read such sad and depressing stories?” Although Joyce’s stories had characters undergoing serious disappointments for a variety of reasons, I asked the student why she found such stories so sad and depressing. She apparently wanted stories with happy and uplifting endings. I had to remind her that Joyce’s stories did not end traditionally and that maybe the disappointments the characters encountered were opportunities to learn and grow.

The pandemic has certainly made us aware that the world around us is uncertain, ephemeral, precarious and subject to change. How we respond to the world’s uncertainties is a measure of our character and eventual happiness.

Larry Hoffner, retired