Dear Editor,

I am writing about the first amendment and how I think some people do not fully understand it, especially the freedom of speech part. The First Amendment gives us freedom of speech, religion, press, petition, and assembly. I want to mainly talk about freedom of speech.  

Today, some people think that freedom of speech means they can say anything they want to say without being punished for it and I know and think that is not how our first amendment is. When people say racist and disrespectful things it can really hurt others. Sometimes it starts as just words but it can get out of control and turn into arguments, fights, and even more serious violence. What people don’t know is that small things can get out of control quickly.

I believe people should be more careful with what they say because words are powerful, and everyone has feelings. I’m saying this because you never know what someone else is going through. What might seem like a joke to one person could deeply hurt someone else. I also think people should try and control how they react but that is not always easy because some people are dealing with personal problems we as people can not see and that can affect how they respond to what is said around them.

There is a difference between talking to talk or talking to intend harm like hate speech, for example, targets a lot of people which they can handle well and overcome but bullying is different because it targets one person and they might not be able to handle it as well as others can.

 What I have to say is we have rights, yes but our actions can still have real world problems.

Sincerely, 

William Osterhout