The cold-blooded murder of 12 people at French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo is a reminder that freedom sometimes comes with a high price.

It’s also a reminder that none of us should take our precious freedoms for granted as there are those in the world who would gladly strip them away.

Among the dozen killed at Charlie Hebdo were two cartoonists whose images of Islamic figures apparently offended the terrorists.

Sometimes a cartoon ticks people off. That’s happened here at the Whidbey News Group newspapers. Americans sometimes forget that editorial cartoons, while often humorous, often illustrate a point and facilitate a broader discussion about issues of public interest.

For example, an editorial cartoon that depicted Jesus in one of our newspapers a while back resulted in an advertiser canceling all advertising.

No amount of explaining could convince the advertiser that the cartoon wasn’t a derogatory depiction of Jesus, but rather addressed a burning issue at the time — whether a private business should be allowed to refuse service to a customer simply because he or she is gay.

With the murders in France, maybe there’s a greater comprehension of our fundamental rights to agree to disagree without punishing those who disagree with us.

Also, we must acknowledge that freedom of religion doesn’t mean that everyone shares the same faith or beliefs.

In fact, freedom of religion means quite the opposite.

Daryl Cagle, an editorial cartoonist who runs the CagleCartoons.com newspaper syndicate used by the Whidbey News Group, had some observations this week about American attitudes and the murder of his fellow cartoonists.

“Americans treat editorial cartoons as a trivial daily joke in the newspaper — in France, editorial cartoons are loved and respected,” he said. “The Louvre has a branch museum devoted to cartoons; imagine if the Smithsonian had a cartoon museum, that’s the way cartoons are revered in France.

“Today we are grieving, but as we move forward, I hope that our cartoons won’t be chilled by these murders and that the cartooning community will step up to this challenge with even more brilliant and insightful work,” Cagle said. “I’m sure the French cartoonists will do that; they are my heroes.”

They are our heroes as well, as continuing to express opinions and ideas that might result in a death warrant certainly isn’t the easy path, but it is the right one.