The First Amendment of the United States Constitution grants us the freedom of religion, speech and the press. It also protects our right to assemble and our right to petition. Our Founding Fathers wrote the First Amendment to ensure these freedoms, so they couldn’t easily be taken away. They recognized flaws when they studied their own countries of origin and the government of other countries. When writing these amendments, they took these flaws and fixed them, shaping the fundamental principles of our constitution.
Never have I thought about the First Amendment more, in my 15 years of life, than this past year. Much has happened in this country. Whenever I would turn on a TV, browse the internet, go on a walk, or listen to the radio, I would see and hear about protests and riots. I witnessed peaceful marches, too, in my village, candlelight vigils out on the county courthouse steps and watched neighbors gather at the church corner.
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I am a Boy Scout, currently working toward my Eagle rank. For one of my merit badges, I attended a town board meeting. I listened as people made public statements, both compliments and complaints directed towards the local government. Although I didn’t necessarily relate to what was being spoken, I knew it was important, because every citizen deserves the chance to be heard. The opportunity to freely express one’s thoughts can be found everywhere. I commonly find it in my school, where classmates argue about who is correct and why they are right, or whether it’s an algebraic problem to which two students have the same answer, one negative and one positive, or an English class debate about a Shakespearean poem.
Freedom is exercised everywhere. There are, of course, some rules of conduct that need to be followed in these scenarios. We cannot, and shall not, speak or write falsehoods. We can gather, but not trespass or destroy property. We can petition and question policy and ask for a chance to be heard, but must wait for the right place and the right time. When all of these are followed, the First Amendment is one of, if not, the most important amendments, allowing citizens to share their opinion. This allows us to have a bigger say in how they are governed.
It is important that we as Americans continue to educate ourselves with non-biased sources and scientific evidence to make the best-informed decisions when we vote. Voting for elected officials who understand the importance of upholding the First Amendment, local ordinances, and who promise to keep these rights sacred will help preserve what our Founding Fathers wanted each and every United States citizen to have.
