Freedom to be Free

Free speech is within the first five rights of the U.S Constitution, and shouldn’t be a rarity in a democracy.

“Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!” — Emma Lazarus

Being patriotic to a system that values democracy such as in the United States has its limits, for having free speech is both constraining and liberating. It gives that voice to those who wants to be heard, for good or for bad alike. Countless voices have impacted the molding and shaping of this great nation into a democracy from the days of the forefathers of the United States, and their creation that is the Constitution would be undergoing its own shifts in amendments as a collective voice in years since.

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Volunteering at a community television station has given me a voice and taught me both the value and consequence of having and expressing free speech. As the voice to the city that it serves, this station provided programming in educating its audience in the arts, education, local government, and individual opinions from within the city. The station’s other component is to educate the community on television equipment, where I was fortunately given the responsibility of a crew member to technically help run shows. I appreciated the diversity of voices and opinions held by both its female and male volunteer producers, and was both a teacher and a student among other teachers and other students at the station with whom I interacted with. Enthusiastically getting caught up in everything about the studio, there were times that I scratched my head as a crew member with some of the content that had gotten aired, but was still reminded of this “free speech” right! As the student at these puzzling moments, I was reminded of there not being overt indecency to oneself or to others.

The nation as a whole seems to be divided on opinions and beliefs, but every voice mattered at this small town television studio! Patriotism according to the Oxford Dictionary is a vigorous support of one’s country, and with co-existing with others, I also see that that also involves co-existing with other beliefs. The Pilgrims fleeing to what is now the United States was from religious persecution, and so as still a growing nation of immigrants with a multitude of variation, we ought to still be tolerant and to still preserve this wonderful right of having free speech!