My middle schooler, Tony, wrote the following essay in class last week about why you should be proud to be an American:
Be Proud To Be An American
When people think of the United States of America, they think of many things such as eagles, Thanksgiving and our iconic red, white and blue flag full of 50 bright stars. Yet, our most important traits as Americans is our freedom and rights that god gave us as human beings, also known as the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. What if we had never came up with that concept? People would be locked away in jail just for sharing their opinions. Take some time and think about that!
The Constitution and the Bill of Rights protect us in a special way that most of us “youngsters” do not realize. Take Amendment III for example; because of that Amendment we do not have our soldiers coming into our homes anytime they want taking all of our food and sleeping in our nice, warm, comfortable beds. Also, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights allow us freedom of speech as well as let us have our own bias and opinions. In other countries they would lock you in jail without a fair trial, even if you were framed. In the United States, you get to prove your innocence and even if you do not have a penny to your name, you still get a lawyer – FREE. Those are some examples out of the Bill of Rights.
In the United States, we have a lot of freedom that other countries do not have. In some Middle Eastern countries, such as Iran, they might cut your hand off. In China the Communists try to make everything and everyone even (they also only allow you to have one child). So, next time you speak the Pledge of Allegiance, make sure you mean it and BE PROUD TO BE AN AMERICAN!!!