THE ULTIMATE TRUTH

Entry No. 5

Robin was a teen-ager, a loner and someone you'd see sitting on a corner reading a book or sometimes talking to himself. Classmates describe him as weird. Police reports indicated that he had family problems and couldn't seem to handle pressure very well. He had no real friends and his home is not the kind of place one would want to stay in. He came from a broken family.

The news spread like wildfire causing many people to think about the book Melvin wrote. The issue now revolves on whether the authorities must ban the book or prevent adolescent kids from reading it.

It was a bright sunny morning. Clutching his copy of "The Spring Lies Eternal", Robin murdered his parents then shot himself after. On the book was an underlined phrase "Since the life we have here feels like hell, everyone would go to Heaven."

Luis was quite a normal boy. He had friends. His family came from a long line of well-respected teachers. He had everything anyone could think of to have a comfortable life. He had good looks. He had a car of his own and his allowance is doubled as compared to other kids his age.

At school, he was brilliant. He was also part of the soccer varsity team. On the day Luis was found hanging on his room, he had a copy of Melvin's book lying on his bed. It was open on a certain page that said, "I am fifty, but I've never been twenty. The sad thing is, my mind had already been burned-up even before I had the freedom to use it."

And so it was decided.

Melvin's book, at first, was banned from being sold to minors. Later, certain religious groups accused him of blasphemy and urged the government to totally ban the book. It was a violation of the basic right of freedom of expression so politicians who were quick to ride on the issue said that, "Freedom entails responsibility. It is our responsibility to filter what's wrong or right for our children. Though we cannot hold the author responsible for the consequences of what he has written, at least we can do something to prevent another tragedy."