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Dear Readers,

Writing this should not feel as difficult as it does. I shouldn’t feel as torn as I do, but I can’t help these feelings. Looking to this past week’s terrorist attacks at the offices of Charlie Hebdo pull me back to why I keep writing.

My passion for journalism was born from different reasons than it lives through today. Once upon a time, I had a dream of becoming a sports journalist. My journey as a writer has come a long way—from horoscopes to game day interviews to editorials on current events. No longer is journalism a career goal for me, but the fight to keep writing the truth as it should be presented—without bias and without opinion—lives on.

The United Nations’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that “everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression.” The United Nations works tirelessly to ensure that the fundamental human rights freedom of expression and free speech penetrate in countries where speech is limited. In this, the truth is fought for, and journalism is championed.

In the wake of these atrocious acts, people around the world are uniting with a simple slogan—“Je Suis Charlie”—as they stand in solidarity with the victims of the Charlie Hebdo shootings. We stand, across the world, holding our pens high above, finding faith in our words and our ability to speak and express without limitation.

The freedom of speech provides us with the opportunity to express our ideas, beliefs, and opinions. With that, we can praise and we can criticize. Our opinions can exist in wide circulation because of the freedom of expression. We find our strength in our ink, and so we hold our pens high.

“The pen is mightier than the sword.”

While it has been agreed upon that the content of Charlie Hebdo was largely offensive, not to one group, but to many, the freedom of expression and the solidarity in which we stand for it rises above. While we may not receive the reaction we want for our words, it is this liberty that allows to us have a voice in the first place.

As we begin with our first issue of 2015, I hope that we can all stand together for the freedom of expression, and value it as the fundamental human right that it is. I hope that we continue to speak up, even when it seems that there is no one to hear us, to read us, to see us. We have access to this freedom, and with it, we have a duty to practice it.

Your Co-Editor-in-Chief of Type One,

Ruchika Sharma