Recently, my school had a poetry slam on the topic of the first amendment: freedom of press, religion, speech, petition, and assembly-- here is what I wrote.

God bless America. Land of the free, home of the ‘oppressed.’ There’s plenty of things I see people complaining about nowadays, so I would just like to ask a simple question. So what?

So what your friend differs in opinion than you? What a shame it would be to live in a culturally diverse America where more than 350 languages are spoken, where people from 177 different countries can come to their embassy and be helped. In a nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. So what? So what about your friend’s opinion not matching yours. Here’s what: Freedom of Speech & Freedom of Press. As Americans, we have a natural born inclination to drama, so you decide to comment on your friend’s post, and that right there is the irony. That differing opinion of yours, that one you just had to share, is no better than that of your friends; we owe that to the first amendment. Freedom of Speech and Press; one we hear about almost every day, and the other not so much. If you’re unclear on what these freedom are, they give you the right to speak freely and openly about how you feel, and also give you the right to publish your opinions in print with no government censorship. So, that same freedom that gave you the right to make that comment is the same freedom that gives your friend the right to write their opinion down in that post. You see? Funny how that works out.

While on the topic of irony, let’s talk about petitioning. As Americans we also have the right to petition the government. Honestly, the only reason this is ironic is because we are using the laws the government made to petition the government to change the laws they made.

As Americans we are also born with the freedom of religion. I find it funny how often we as a country can forget this. Y’all remember when Starbucks took the word Christmas off their cups and the US went into turmoil? Me neither, because we have freedom of religion. So What? So the freedom that gives them the right to put, or not to put Christmas on their cups is the same right that lets me stand in this building just down the hall, with my fellow Brothers and Sisters and worship freely. Instead of complaining, maybe we should be appreciative.

So what? So what. Here is what. As Americans we are also born with the freedom to assemble. A lot of the time we sit around, assembled, with our friends and complain about trivial things like the remote being too far away or our charger not reaching us. That’s sad. Here is what, what we should do. We should use these rights. So, let’s assemble. Let’s get together and while we are at it let’s pray, for our country—and since we have freedom of religion we can pray to whomever we would like— and we can also pray about whatever we would like because we have the freedom of press and speech.

So what now? Now let’s go back to the beginning. Remember when I said “God bless America?” Well, I was mistaken. God has blessed America and He blessed us with a voice, and with these rights, so let’s use them.