Power to the People | Teen Ink

Power to the People

February 8, 2018
By Eric.X PLATINUM, Mason, Ohio
Eric.X PLATINUM, Mason, Ohio
24 articles 53 photos 8 comments

Favorite Quote:
"Do not wait to strike till the iron is hot; but make it hot from striking." - William B. Yeats


Listen.

 
Obey.
 
Comply.
 
1984 has come and gone, though its ideals live on.
 
Do not question the law.
 
The law is absolute.
 
The law is everything.
 
Once upon a time… We lived in an era…

Atop the world, unchallenged as the supreme power of the land.
 
The greatest enemy, the most implacable foe?
 
...had crumbled upon itself... Communism had been cast down and
 
democracy stood tall as the new world order.
 
For a decade, we believed that we had succeeded...
 
But if we’ve won,
 
Why do we still look upon our own with suspicion?
 
Why are there still brutal regimes that terrorize their own people?
 
Why are we still attacked by our own within our own borders?
 
Our communities...still fraught with violence...
 
Our minorities...still targeted by those who would call themselves patriots...
 
If we cannot trust our government
 
If we cannot trust our police
 
If we cannot trust the media
 
Then who are we, as a country?
 
Are we a country of partisans?
 
Are we a country of division, polarization, separation?
 
Are we a country who must segregate itself with walls?
 
Once, this country had a dream... that we could join hands... in
 
friendship...
 
Once..., this country welcomed the wretched masses from teeming shores.
 
Once we welcomed the tired, the poor, the exiled of foreign nations
 
Once, we lifted up the outcast, the downtrodden, the homeless
 
Gave them new homes
 
New names
 
New hopes
 
Where has that America gone?
 
Have we drowned the ideals of liberty
 
In a sea of ignorance and spite?
 
One nation (made from every nation)
Under god
Indivisible (excluding those who are different)
With liberty and justice (unless you can’t afford the lawyers)
For all
 
Freedom is not free.
 
Freedom will never be free.
 
Independence was paid for by the blood of patriots.
 
Equality was paid for by the blood, sweat, and tears of soldiers, activists, and everyday men and women.
 
The gifts that truly matter, the rights and privileges that our forefathers were willing to sacrifice everything for, are only footnotes in the history books.
 
The citizens of today are not the citizens of times dead and past.
 
Listen.
 
Obey.
 
Comply.



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