Since we just celebrated Independence Day, I find it to be a good time to write about our great nation’s freedom. We speak about the liberty to worship as we please, the freedom to carry a firearm for our protection, and the ability to speak our mind without persecution, but are we really thankful for it? I look at the reaction from my generation, and I feel like we have become ungrateful for the freedoms that so many have sacrificed and given their lives for. We have abused our first-amendment right to free speech with disrespect and hatred towards each other. This is not what our republic is about!
Our nation faces many issues, such as discrimination against Christians and other religions, racial hatred that has not been nearly as present since the horrible hate-filled time of the 1960s, a sluggish economy producing minimum-wage jobs for not nearly enough of its people, and radical Islamic terrorism threatening the homeland of this great nation. It is up to our generation to preserve and protect ALL of our beloved freedoms from the threats both foreign and domestic that we face every single day. Our generation has become so open-minded that we worry more about trying not to offend someone than we do about actually being correct. It is up to our generation to decide what kind of America we are going to live in and what kind of America our kid's kids will inherit one day. Is it going to be one that is constitutionally driven, where the rights of EVERY American are affirmed and secured? This is the question we should be asking ourselves, and I hope the answer is a firmly shouted YES.
As Americans, we look to the future, not our past. Our generation has a lot of work to do, and with a little respect towards one another we will tackle the threats to our freedom. I leave you with a quote from President Abraham Lincoln: “A house divided against itself cannot stand."
