This I believe

Do you believe we have the freedom of speech, as it says in the American Constitution? My Mom always told me that we didn’t (because of religious reasons). But my friends said that we did. I know that your parents know best, but I could have cared less about the subject then.

It wasn’t until late in 2008, that I started to really care. I started to share my opinions on the internet, about what I thought of politics and the Presidential candidates. People ended up telling me that I could get in big trouble for sharing what I thought about politics. “I thought we had the Freedom of Speech?” I thought to myself. Later on, I saw stories on the tv and internet, about people getting in trouble for the things they said.

One story was about a lady, whose next-door neighbor’s kids were playing in a tree that was special to her. The lady told the kid’s mother that her kids need to quit acting like a bunch of animals in her tree. The mother took offense to the word “animals” and sued the lady. The story sickens me, I would tell you more, but I can’t thanks to our “freedom of speech”.

If we really have the Freedom of Speech, people wouldn’t be getting sued for careless words. How can we have the Freedom of Speech if we are getting in trouble with our government and society for speaking the way we feel? It’s just not right! I know that there are more people out there that are fighting for this right. People shouldn’t even have to; it’s a right given to us by men and women who risked their lives and died for this right. I am willing to do whatever it takes for this cause.

The people of America should come together to decide whether we really have the full freedom of speech or we don’t. There is no in between, we either have it to it’s fullest or we don’t. The Supreme Court should do something about this. How can we go through life with a limited freedom of speech, knowing that it says in the Constitution that we have full freedom of speech?

I’ve decided for myself, if someone comes up to me, telling me that I can’t speak about the way I personally feel; I’m going to tell them what our Constitution says about that. I believe parents have the right to set up language rules in their own house, due to their convictions; whether spiritual or personal. I also understand that some language can be offensive, to a certain extent. That is why I think people should use the Freedom of Speech at an appropriate time and place. So America, do we have the freedom of speech?