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There are very few amongst us
who can quote verbatim
the entire First Amendment
to the Constitution
of the United States
I am not one of them
But we all know
that it gives us
FREEDOM OF RELIGION
and
FREEDOM OF SPEECH
et al
Those two pairs of three words
are emblazoned on the skull
of every American citizen
and non-citizen
has determined
that additional Freedoms
(or corollaries to those Freedoms)
were proposed in 1791
when James Madison
wrote
"The Bill of Rights"
We have
FREEDOM OF RELIGION
but it was suggested
that it be adjoined with
FREEDOM OF TOLERANCE
so as to avoid friction
between people
of different religions
We have
FREEDOM OF SPEECH
but it was suggested
that it be adjoined with
FREEDOM OF SILENCE
so as to avoid
too many people
speaking at the same time
The Silence
would give us time
to absorb
what has just been said
The United States of America
was a mere teenager
when the Bill of Rights
was written
We were only fifteen years old
The Marketing Department
Founding Fathers
of the United States
did not want Madison
to include the adjoining Freedoms
because they compromised
FREEDOM OF RELIGION
and
FREEDOM OF SPEECH
However.
imagine the corollary
FREEDOM OF TOLERANCE
!!!
It would mean that you
could go to your neighbor's church
even though it believed in things
dramatically different
from your own church
(and vice versa)
After their church service,
they would serve
a continental breakfast
including foods
you could never pronounce
but all you would say was
Yummy Yummy Yummy
Can I please have
a second serving
Imagine
the American classroom
if students practiced
FREEDOM OF SILENCE
whenever the teachers
were trying to teach them
Then and only then
would our students
be as smart as
any other students
in any other country
What a wonderful thing
those compromising Freedoms
would have been
If only there had been
—in 1791—
some Founding Mothers
in the United States
•••
© PAULOLIVERIO ©
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I truly like this page but the ending seems rather abrupt.
ReplyDeleteI agree
DeleteMay I suggest an emendation?
DeletePlease do so
DeleteIf only there had been — in 1791 — some Founding Mothers
Deletein the United States or an ancestor of Louis Armstrong
singing WHAT A WONDERFUL WORLD THIS COULD BE.
My gratitude cannot be measured
DeleteSometimes I wish you were me
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3yCcXgbKrE
Pardon my mistake: I gave a wrong title to Satchmo's anthemic song.
ReplyDeleteThe title has only four words, not seven as previously stated.
WHAT A WONDERFUL WORLD is based on visual facts.
"What A Wonderful World This Could Be" is the Sam Cooke classic
about a young man in love but has failing grades
in Algebra and Geography.