Tristan's Essay!

Tristan Yerkes
English 2
Mr. Salsich
3 February 2009
“All You Need is Love:
An Essay About the Powers of and Relationships Between Freedom and Love”

America is the home of the free. All Americans have heard these words, be it in one form or other. Through the years this idea has been disputed, many have argued that America is in fact not free at all. I for one believe strongly in these words, partly because I consider freedom to be the ability to work to success, and partly because of my feelings that love makes people free.
Everyone makes mistakes. One of these mistakes might cause me confinement, in which case, I would need something to keep me sane. This something may come in the form of a sight that I would see maybe once a day. For me, this vision would need to be a source of hope, a plethora [FAST WORD] of hopeful energy that I could draw from whenever the need arose [FAST WORD]. This sight would also need to be astoundingly beautiful, something that I could look at and enjoy. If I were confined, I would like to see love every day. This could be in many forms, a couple getting married, a father sending his son to his first day of school, a brother sitting at his sister’s deathbed, anything that would convey an overwhelming sense of love. This idea is conveyed in The Tempest by William Shakespeare, when Ferdinand says, “Might I but through my prison once a day behold this maiden [I would be happy.]” Ferdinand says he will stay sane and happy in his prison if he sees the girl he loves. If I saw any type of love once a day, it wouldn’t matter what prison I was in, I would stay hopeful, and happy.
I would feel free, and to me, freedom is being as free as an American. Almost all American citizens have the right to work their way to success, and simply having that option is all the freedom I need. Some days, I walk down to a store, with a few dollars in hand, and it amazes me that I have the freedom to not only earn that money, but to go and buy a candy bar. I feel more free than ever, simply working for some cash and spending it, which is possible more than ever in America. Andrew Ryan from the game BioShock once posed the question, “Is a man not entitled to the sweat off his brow?” Mr. Ryan went on to explain how all of the different government systems said no to this question, he was of course talking about the rationalities of building an underwater metropolis, but his ideas are important, nonetheless. Throughout the rest of BioShock, Mr. Ryan’s ideas are reiterated to the player, inadvertently saying that true freedom only comes when one can receive fruits from one’s labor. I agree fully with this philosophy, that freedom is the idea that one is entitled to the sweat off one’s brow. I have not always truly appreciated how great our nation is, but I do and it makes me feel more free than ever.
I feel free now, but what would become of me if I were sent to some society where I were locked up for being Jewish? I would be perfectly fine if I could see love everyday. I am as free as an American. To be free Lynyrd Skynyrd needs to be a bird, Andrew Ryan needs to build an underwater utopia, and many need to legalize illicit substances, [TRICOLON] but I am cool as a cucumber to stay in America, milking the benefits that the great red, white, and blue has to offer.