Jillian_A

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For so long when someone asks anything of me, something needing an opinionated, justified answer, I stay silent. I sit down when everyone stands up, letting my mind shut my thoughts and letting others do the talking, assured that what ever I say will not compare to their words. They can do the talking instead, and say the thoughts I did not let my mind think more eloquently and expressive then I could ever.======

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So when someone asks me to write a "This I Believe" four-hundred-and-fifty word response, the idea of the task is enough to make my palms clam up and my legs feel like over-boiled, flopping pasta. What do I believe. What do I believe as a young citizen in America.======

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I believe that in this three-hundred and five million strong population (the US), I have lost sight on my own beliefs,and found it easier to just be silent. How ironic. In a country where freedom is most what we're known for, where outsiders of this nation are beaten into silence in their own countries, I have chosen to be silent.======

Is this a disgrace, a disgrace to all the woman and man who are beaten or whipped or raped or dragged in the streets till death just for not being silent? Maybe. But isn't that what freedom means? Having the choice, either way? Yes. But society has shown us that people who DO speak make a lot more of a difference then people who don't.

So, it's a time for expression. Our country was founded on the principles that citizens will be able to try to change what they can, that citizens will be able to express their beliefs. By the people, For the people. Our country could never last if everyone, like me, stayed silent. We would have a dictatorship, disguised in a democracy. We would have war and internal fights for power and terrorism worse than what we've ever seen. We would have a nation of silent citizens, standing by and watching as our country fell apart around us.

But no. instead we have protests, we have riots, we have little clever ways woven into our constitution that create a balance of power. What a beautiful ideal, people here debate and dream and protest and form their own opinions and ideas. They have the power of expression. The power to lead. The power of freedom. America the Beautiful has its flaws, has its problems. But the beauty is, we have the power to fix them.

So, in conclusion, we make a powerful, free, balanced nation, three-hundred and five million people strong. I fall into that number. I am one person that is part of the twenty-six percentile that is under the age of twenty. I am silent, but I have the freedom to speak my beliefs at anytime.