A Life Without Freedom

by Michelle N.
(USA)

I am blessed to live in the United States, where there is freedom for all. I do not need to worry about being trapped or enslaved, like people were in the past. I know that I am free to do as I please, and Independence Day is the day that I celebrate this freedom. I cannot even imagine a life where I do not have the freedom to get the college education that I want. I cannot fathom a world where I cannot find a profession that interests me. This life would be unlivable and depressing. Maybe I would be a slave, like in the early 1800s, living on a plantation. Maybe I would be a prisoner, trapped in a cell for my whole life. All I know is that my life would completely change. I would not be able to be writing this essay, as I would be forever trapped and never heard. Maybe I would be living with my family, maybe I would not. Slaves were often separated from their families when they were sold off to other slaveowners. I would be so depressed seeing my other family members being sold off to different families. Like we were animals. Treated like dogs and worked like dogs. Or even like furniture! Slaveowners would have no respect for us. They just would want us to pick cotton so they could make a lot of money, while we suffer. I would be completely alone and forced to work with no pay and with no hope of a better life. What is the point of living a life so terrible like this one? How did those slaves survive? This life would be dreadful, and I am so appreciative that I am free. I live in the United States, where I can say and do what I want. I am living the dream. I have freedom.