Freedom

Freedoms are there to be protected, John Seigenthaler told us.

And when we're afraid, we need to worry most about what our government will do to ease those fears and lessen those freedoms, said Seigenthaler, the founder of the Freedom Forum's First Amendment Center in Nashville.

We live in a fearful time, and despite assurances that we will make it through — which we most certainly will do — how we come out on the other end is what's important.

If we let fear run our lives, if we live in the shadow of our government's wishes, too afraid to speak up, our profession will prove those people warning of our impending doom correct.

We have to be the bodyguards of the First Amendment: kicking, punching and shoving those — even the government — who would harm one of our nation's most important freedoms.