Waldoboro High School - Medomak Breeze Yearbook (Waldoboro, ME)

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46 MEDOMAK BREEZE WOMAN'S CLUB ESSAY CONTEST The winners of the annual Woman's Club Essay Contest read their essays at the Woman's Club meeting on Feb- ruary 10, 1948. The subject Was, What America Means To Me . First prize of 85.00 was Won by Lucille Newbert, Second prize of 33.00 was won by Ronald Witham. Marilyn Cole and Kay Davis tied for the third prize of 352.00 . The entire Senior Class was invited to the meeting and a goodly number were present. Re- freshments were served after the pro- gram. WHAT AMERICA MEANS TO ME By Lucille Newbert tFirst Prizej Although it would be interesting and educational to visit many foreign countries, America is the only place that I would want to live in. Our country is a land where one may maintain a real Home , secure as high an education as one desires, ob- tain employment, live peaceably and enjoy countless other privileges. All this has been accomplished through our democratic government, which is based upon freedom. Our America of today has been built on freedom of religion, freedom of speech, free- dom from want and freedom from fear. Therefore, I think that these four freedoms symbolize what Amer- ica actually means to me. We in America don't know what it means not to have freedom of religion. Since our country was first settled, three centuries ago, free religious rights have been topmost in our gov- ernment. In fact, nearly all of our early colonies were settled because of religious persecutions in foreign countries. Although at first each col- ony was settled by a special religious sect, soon immigrants of any relig- ious belief could settle in any colony. We saw the first movement toward complete religious freedom in Amer- ica when Roger Williams left Massa- chusetts and settled Rhode Island, where any person, regardless of de- nomination, could come. William's determination for complete religious rights is probably one factor which led to the democracy that our land enjoys. Today we are privileged to go to church,'or not, as we wish, and to have our own ideas and beliefs. There is no established church of America, to which we are expected to attend. No one tells us what we are to be- lieve. The authors of our Constitu- tion considered these religious rights so important, that they included them in our Constitution, where only things of utmost importance are men- tioned. What would America be like to- day if we had no religious freedom? We need only to look at some of the nations across the ocean. Take, for example, Germany before the war, when God was denounced and only Hitler was worshiped. I'm sure none of us would like to have been in Ger- many when people there dared not even think of their religious beliefs. Russia is another example where the people exercise no religious rights whatsoever. America might well be the same as any one of these nations if our freedom of religion was snatch- ed from us. Most of us consider our freedom of speech one of the most important foundations of our democracy. We are all privileged to express our ideas at any time and in any place. We, as Americans, all vote, regardless of social standing or beliefs. Through our voting we choose all of our lead- ers and make all our laws. The last word in government is spoken by the people. Our present day school system is a very good example of freedom of speech. We are allowed, and even encouraged, to express our views in all of our classes. This makes the classes informal and certainly more