Patriot's Pen Essay

I can see it now, the rust-colored, musty room filled with men writing down America's history with a quill and ink--our Founding Fathers. What would you say to them if you had the chance to speak with them? I know they did a lot of things to start up our country, but not all of them were very helpful.

When all of those men were writing our constitution they said that all men are created equal, even though most of those men had slaves. I believe that everyone should get a chance to have a happy and fulfilling life, but since these people had dark skin, they were automatically judged. The American people continued to treat these people terribly for almost 200 years before it was stopped. If all men are created equal then why were these poor families treated different?

While all of these men were writing the most important document in American history, their wives were probably at home taking care of the kids and making dinner. Why were women so disrespected back then? They were the backbone of the family doing all the cooking and cleaning. Everyone says that men go to work to put food on the table but in reality, who makes that food? Who cleans up after the people eating that food? Certainly not the men. In the Declaration of Independence many of the sentences start with “He has…” but why not “He/she has…”? Do the laws not apply to women now? In addition, in 1920 women were finally allowed to vote. Before then they didn’t have a say in who ran their country. Our founding fathers really needed to think about who kept their houses clean and their stomachs content while they were at work every day.

Although our founding fathers did a couple things wrong, they did do a couple things right. Before they came to America there wasn’t freedom. When they came here, most of them dreamed of freedom of religion and freedom of speech, and now we know those rules a part of our daily lives. We can say what we’d like to and praise the Lord in whatever way we’d like to. Some of us don’t even praise a lord of any kind, but that’s okay here in America. In this case, I think our founding fathers had the right idea.

Overall, I think we have a great country, and for that I would thank our founding fathers. They had no idea what an achievement they’ve made. Hopefully someday in the future I will be able to thank them for all that they’ve done to help form our present day America. 

Cause/Effect

Could you imagine being stuck in an enclosed arena with 23 other kids fighting to the death? That's what a young girl named Katniss Everdeen had to do twice in a three book series called The Hunger Games. There is a lot going on in this series, but the true point of no return--or the climax--was when they announced the Quarter Quell. The Quarter Quell was the 75th Hunger Games were there's always a bit of a twist. This year, it was that all of the past victors names were drawn, instead of the childrens'. In District 12 Katniss was the only girl, so she would be reentering the darkest place of her life for the second time. The Capitol started these Hunger Games to gain control over all of the districts. Due to this, many loved ones had been lost. Many people had been sacrificed. And many people had died a horrible painful death. As more children had died, citizens ad begun to get angrier and angrier. This finally led up to the rebellion. Just because the Capitol was greedy, little children died.

Six Flags Success

The anticipation was killing me. We had been standing in line for two hours, and a single drop of rain hit my forehead. That just blew me over the edge. That means they have to shut down raging bull for at least a half hour after it stopped raining. Well, that was two hours of my life I would NEVER get back. Our small group decided that the day was over for us at six flags, and it was only 4:00. Eventually we head back to the car, and change into some dry clothes, and then finally we're off. Both my aunt and my mom know that us kids are disappointed, so they decide to try to salvage what was left of this day trip. I ask where we're going, but all they say is "You'll see". We pull into a crowded parking lot and I look up at the sign and it says "Gurnee Mills Shopping Center". I had been begging my mom to take me shopping all summer, and now we have hours and hours to do it with my favorite cousins.

The smell of rain was still lingering in the air and the light mist was was sending a chill down my back.We walk through the sliding doors and i come alive with excitement. Our first stop, Starbucks. We all get hot coffees to warm us up from the cold outside air. We continue to doddle around the outlet mall, window shopping and sipping our coffees.We continue to laugh and have a good time. We continue to make memories  without even knowing it.

It gets to be about eight o' clock and we decide that we've been to every store that we wanted to go to. My quiet little cousin Anna chimes in and says "Why don't we go back to six flags?" A surprised look came across my face as fast a a flame would take to charcoal drenched in kerosene. Anna hadn't wanted to ride any rides all day. She wasn't really a daredevil.

"Are you sure?" my aunt asked with a worrisome expression on her face.
"Yeah," said Anna, "I'd like to try and ride raging bull at least once". At that moment, I was so proud of her. She had learned a valuable lesson and was one step closer to conquering her fears. I could see in her mom's as that she was even more proud than I was.

* * * *

 We all climb into our separate cars and get fastened in, and alll of a sudden Anna says, "I don't want to do this. Mom get me out."

"It's too late now, honey. Just close your eyes and enjoy the ride. It will be over soon," my aunt says in a reassuring voice.We slowly start to snake up to the top of the roller coaster.

Anna proceeded to tightly shut her eyes, and keep them that way until the bar over her shoulders is lifted at the end of the ride. Once she got off, she was ecstatic."That was awesome!" she said. I was so glad to see her happy. 

Anna had conquered her fear, and I finally got to go shopping. On our way home, we talked about our favorite parts of the day and laughed and smiled some more. Looking back, I thought it was the end of the world when we decided to leave six flags, but it wasn't. My aunt and my mom decided to make the best of the day and in the end, we all had a great day that I will never forget.