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

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4 ' MEDOMAK BREEZE Upper - Senior Tfayg .gower -E Ona-Gfpf gym!

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MEDOMA K BREEZE 47 pleasant. In many countries a pupil would never think of expressing views which are different from those being taught, and no one would dare say anything against top officials. Our American politics would be al- most ruined if freedom of speech were taken away from us. Each candidate for an office does much campaigning, and in his speeches he can say almost anything he wishes against opponents. During an election, our topmost offic- ial, the President, is many times the one receiving much of the slander. In many places this would be a crime almost unforgivable and even punish- able by death. The press, in itself, symbolizes our speech rights. All news, regardless of nature, goes into our newspapers. The government has nothing whatso- ever to say about what may or may not be printed. Our newspapers ex- press the opinions of all the classes of people. During this last war we found how fortunate we were on this line. All war news was in the paper almost as soon as it happened. In al- most all foreign countries all news were censored and the people never knew the truth. Educated Americans would never be satisfied to be kept in the dark about a matter in which they all had an interest. I dare say, none of us ever really experienced want. Therefore, most of us don't fully appreciate the true meaning of freedom from want. Let's consider just a few things that the government of America has done to make want a remote thing to most of us. ' In America, the poor, the aged and the less fortunate are all cared for in some way. To be sure, some are over- looked, but that number is progres- sively growing smaller. There are pensions for the aged and crippled, the poorer class receives special aid. The government tries to treat every- one as fairly as possible. We need only to look at war-torn Europe to see what real want is. All the time, we hear stories of starva- tion, of lack of clothing and of homes. We can't visualize the actual suffer- ing that those people in Europe are going through, for we have never experienced anything anywhere near like it. Each of us should take more time to thank God that he lives in America, a land of plenty. In America actual fear is in much the same way as want-it is almost unheard of. How can we fear when we are surrounded everywhere by natural beauty and peace? True. during the war a certain amount of fear existed, but who among us feared, every moment, a bombing or enemies entering our towns? When planes flew over we knew they were oursg they gave us a sense of security rather than fear. Let us take Europe again for example. If we had been there during the war we would have found fear on every hand. Planes roaring above, many times meant death or loss of all possessions. It seemed that fear lurked in every corner. Fear, in certain stages, can become worse than many dreaded diseases. It can make human wrecks of men. Little wonder that in many countries the people can't normalize themselves very easily after living in constant fear. We all rest assured in the fact that America is prepared to safe- guard o'ur complete freedom from fear. America has given us all se- curity and a lack of fear. What more could we ask a country to mean to us, than these four free- doms? There is certainly no place on earth where the people are so blessed as in America. May we all be more grateful and appreciative of the privilege to live in the United States of America. WHAT AMERICA MEANS T0 ME By Ronald Witham fSecond Prizej ' America means many things to mc, the most important of which is free- dom - yes, freedom. Many people