No, You Cannot | Teen Ink

No, You Cannot MAG

November 6, 2008
By Anonymous

It is a new nation,
a nation that proudly proclaims:
“Yes we can.”
But what power holds “yes we can,”
when America has told many of our
brothers and sisters
“no, you cannot”?
You cannot follow your heart.
You cannot move forward.
You cannot take a hand.
You cannot break the mold.
“Marriage is a holy bond
for a man and a woman
it is not yours to taint,” they say.
Where is the future?
Relentlessly we must
keep striving for a better day.
We must stop this hatred
and bring about change in the
wake of defeat.


The author's comments:
This piece was written after Prop 8 was passed in California, a national tragedy at the state level.

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This article has 396 comments.


on Jan. 17 2012 at 9:33 pm
jesusfreak23 BRONZE, Memphis, Tennessee
2 articles 0 photos 5 comments
Christianity is not a religion. it is a relationship. an amazing, indescribable, real relationship with our creator. society and government has morphed being a Christian into something restricting and "unconstitutional".

on Jan. 17 2012 at 8:53 pm
Whether or not America was founded on Christian beliefs, I think we can all agree the first amendment to the constitution gives everyone the right to freedom of religion, freedom of speech and freedom of self expression. This is a great poem with a controversial message. I think it is beautiful.

on Jan. 17 2012 at 7:56 pm
Kingdom_of_the_Forgotten GOLD, Ogden, Utah
12 articles 0 photos 29 comments

Favorite Quote:
"Time, the cradle of hope.... Wisdom walks before it, opportunity with it, and repentance behind it: he that has made it his friend will have little to fear from his enemies, but he that has made it his enemy will have little to hope from his friends." ~Charles Caleb Colton

Sorry if it came across as a fight. I saw it more of a debate then anything else. We just had conflicting ideas that we wanted the other to understand. Am I wrong BlueRain?

soldierx said...
on Jan. 17 2012 at 1:18 pm
This is sooo true, i love it! Good job. (:

on Jan. 17 2012 at 10:34 am
thejesusfreak SILVER, Bradenton, Florida
9 articles 0 photos 13 comments

Favorite Quote:
"ok so your hated... so what? Embrace it! you are who you are and dont forget it."

Okay I'm braking this up. This country was founded on people that wanted religion rights and others among that category. Teen ink is a site where teens are supposed to speak freely and say what they want to say. If you don't like what they said... Leave the page. Let it go. There's so many people in this world and I'm sure someone agrees with them and same to you. Religion is a choice. It shouldn't pull people apart.

on Dec. 26 2011 at 8:34 pm
Jazzimaniac SILVER, Dana Point, California
5 articles 0 photos 4 comments

Favorite Quote:
I'm a little teapot, short and stout. Here is my handle - and here's a note from my shrink! He says I'm getting better! Last week, I thought I was a toaster oven! ~ Dot Warner

WOW this is so true!

on Dec. 26 2011 at 5:49 pm
BlueRain BRONZE, Clarkston, Michigan
2 articles 5 photos 254 comments

Favorite Quote:
"Meeting you was fate, becoming your friend was a choice, but falling in love with you was beyond my control."

Yes, it is true there is a larger amount of moral humans who are religious, but that is often because the need for a reward or punishment for their behavior is great. Since they believe in a powerful being who is able to do anything at anytime, that influences their actions. For myself, I don't do good things because I fear judgement of someone else, but because my own self judgement is very strong. As a human being I have an instinctual set of rules for myself as well as a societal set of rules, but I'm always careful about whether the second is worth listening to.

WriteItOff said...
on Dec. 26 2011 at 5:03 pm
WriteItOff, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
0 articles 0 photos 15 comments
Preach it! This is so true, we are the youth of this nation, if we change, then in a decade or so, so does America. Its that easy :)

on Dec. 26 2011 at 3:57 pm
Kingdom_of_the_Forgotten GOLD, Ogden, Utah
12 articles 0 photos 29 comments

Favorite Quote:
"Time, the cradle of hope.... Wisdom walks before it, opportunity with it, and repentance behind it: he that has made it his friend will have little to fear from his enemies, but he that has made it his enemy will have little to hope from his friends." ~Charles Caleb Colton

You're missing the part that says, "... upon themselves have proven to be the best choices out of the alternatives." I'm only stating that this religion and others like it have set high standards for the followers to work towards. I didn't mean to imply that only Christians have morals, because I know many non-christian and even non-religious people that lead more moralistic lives than Christians.

on Dec. 26 2011 at 2:50 pm
BlueRain BRONZE, Clarkston, Michigan
2 articles 5 photos 254 comments

Favorite Quote:
"Meeting you was fate, becoming your friend was a choice, but falling in love with you was beyond my control."

"This country was founded upon Christian beliefs and the standards that Christians place upon themselves" is what you said, so I interpreted it that way. Christians aren't the only ones with morals you know. Religion and morals are two separate ideas. You can be moral without having a religion. Religion only sets up punishment and reward for anyone who follows those morals, and many people can live without fear of punishment or wanting a reward just for being good people.

on Dec. 26 2011 at 1:20 pm
Kingdom_of_the_Forgotten GOLD, Ogden, Utah
12 articles 0 photos 29 comments

Favorite Quote:
"Time, the cradle of hope.... Wisdom walks before it, opportunity with it, and repentance behind it: he that has made it his friend will have little to fear from his enemies, but he that has made it his enemy will have little to hope from his friends." ~Charles Caleb Colton

I never said it was founded on Christianity, only the beliefs, and when I say that I simply mean the moral ones, not the belief in a God.

Ella1 GOLD said...
on Dec. 26 2011 at 10:35 am
Ella1 GOLD,
14 articles 7 photos 137 comments
I like your message and how you related it to real life events. Good Job

on Dec. 26 2011 at 8:48 am
BlueRain BRONZE, Clarkston, Michigan
2 articles 5 photos 254 comments

Favorite Quote:
"Meeting you was fate, becoming your friend was a choice, but falling in love with you was beyond my control."

America was not founded on Christianity, nor should Christians continue to impose their religion on the government as if that is the only right path. There a plenty of resources to prove that the Founders were Deists, which, if you've read your history book, means that they believed in the possibility of a higher power, but did not believe in the bible. As in they believed in a god but not the Christian one. Besides, even if they were Christians, you are talking about a time in history where they still had slavery in the Constitution, and where most of the country agreed with it. So does that mean your God denied an entire race just because that's how his followers wanted it to be? Separation of church and state, they put it there for a reason...

on Dec. 26 2011 at 8:28 am
BlueRain BRONZE, Clarkston, Michigan
2 articles 5 photos 254 comments

Favorite Quote:
"Meeting you was fate, becoming your friend was a choice, but falling in love with you was beyond my control."

America was not founded on Christianity. If you look back in your history books, the Founders specifically put that there would be a separation of church and state, because they did not want religion to interfere in politics. There are also many resources that prove that the Founders weren't even Christians but Deists ie. people who may believe there was a higher power, but not necessarily the Christian god, and definitely not the bible. They believed more in logic to guide them through life than faith. Which for the foundation of a country, I think it was a great way of running things.

on Dec. 22 2011 at 3:59 pm
TheGirlWhoDancesWithSnowflakes SILVER, Sunnyvale, Texas
8 articles 0 photos 99 comments

Favorite Quote:
"Duct tape is like the force. It has a light side, a dark side, and it holds the world together."

Friendship is born at that moment when one person says to another,
"What! You too? I thought I was the only one."
- C. S. Lewis

Ah Torch. It's Christians like you who make the rest of us look like complete imbeciles. I am a devout Christian too, but I know better than to make such ignorant remarks such as the one you hae made. America was established as a safe haven for ALL religions to be practiced without persecution. :)

. said...
on Dec. 4 2011 at 8:11 pm

this poem is amazing :D

 


on Dec. 4 2011 at 7:30 pm
Kingdom_of_the_Forgotten GOLD, Ogden, Utah
12 articles 0 photos 29 comments

Favorite Quote:
"Time, the cradle of hope.... Wisdom walks before it, opportunity with it, and repentance behind it: he that has made it his friend will have little to fear from his enemies, but he that has made it his enemy will have little to hope from his friends." ~Charles Caleb Colton

This was meant as a reply to inspiredbytheworld's comment. Also, I think this poem could use a little more work, but it was good beside the choppiness.

on Dec. 4 2011 at 7:27 pm
Kingdom_of_the_Forgotten GOLD, Ogden, Utah
12 articles 0 photos 29 comments

Favorite Quote:
"Time, the cradle of hope.... Wisdom walks before it, opportunity with it, and repentance behind it: he that has made it his friend will have little to fear from his enemies, but he that has made it his enemy will have little to hope from his friends." ~Charles Caleb Colton

This country was founded upon Christian beliefs and the standards that Christians place upon themselves have often been proven to be the best choices out of the alternatives that might be presented.

Although I disagree, I respect your opinion and understand why you think it. :)


Fia-fia BRONZE said...
on Dec. 4 2011 at 4:05 pm
Fia-fia BRONZE, Bethesda, Maryland
4 articles 1 photo 157 comments

This is amazing!! Such a great message in such a good poem!!! Thank you for sharing! 

:)


on Dec. 4 2011 at 12:17 pm
I dont think thats necessarily true. I enjoy the way this is written. Even the quotes fit well too.