In one way or another, we all tend to become rigid in some areas of thoughts and emotions. When we realize that there is something we do not like to hear we realize how easy it is to want to censor. Only when we realize that we have an innate tendency to want to do at times the very thing to others that we condemn them for doing to us are we capable of using one of the qualities that separates us from animals - the ability to think and reason. One of the most delightful and necessary functions of the liberated mind is that of being an intellectual host. Hospitality is one of the most precious of the human achievements.
Hospitality is a willingness to admit human differences into one's life.
One need not accept the differences, but one pays to each human being whom one hosts the compliment of courteous recognition. To be able to consider views different from one's own, nay to bring pressure to bear to have the expression of such views forbidden, is to go counter to the very spirit of democracy. Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty. We librarians have an enemy far more widely among us than we are in the habit of recognizing. This enemy is our private intolerance.