Why the First Amendment is Important to Me

A few weeks ago while at our church's camp, my best friend and I were about to go to the camp's coffee shop, and while I was looking for my wallet, he happened to notice my Blog Notes journal. He asked if my mom was still forcing me to write in this blog. I told him no she wasn't, but whenever I tell anyone the next sentence, they seem extremely surprised. I told him I write in it of my own free will, and then I found my wallet, and we went to the coffee shop with Devin still recovering from shock.

What I don't understand from this conversation  is why no one believes I like to write in an online journal which is exactly what a blog is. Throughout history many people have kept journals. Without Christopher Columbus's journal, America would probably be uninhabited; without Lewis and Clark's journals, we would all still be stuck on the east coast; without Charles Darwin's journals, some crucial species of animals would not be known. Other people who wrote journals were John Muir, Anne Frank, and I haven't even mentioned all the people who have written autobiographies so why are people surprised that I'm not being forced to write in this online journal? It's not uncommon for someone to enjoy writing; look at Christopher Paolini: he started writing Eragon when he was fifteen, and I don't think his parents said write a 500 page novel or else.

There are many reasons why I love writing. My favorite part about blog writing is reading it after it's been published because of the thrill of reading my ideas and opinions being publicly voiced. Why people don't voice opinions is another question of mine. Freedom of speech is a right of ours, why do we not use it? Many books, autobiographies, and even journals (real events in history) have been banned because we have not demanded our right to speak out.  If writing didn't exist, the world would fall into chaos. There would be no communication because no one would be able to write anything to message, no movies because no one would be able to write the scripts, no internet because no one would be able to program it, and no civilization because no one would be able to converse with more than a few people. Face it, we need writing to survive. Why do so many people insist on hating it? The First Amendment states, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government to redress grievances." I love these words drafted by James Madison in the United States Constitution.