Language and Culture Journal

Journal 15: Freedom of Speech

If you lost your freedom of speech, including the right to write, how would you express your feelings?

I could not imagine having to live in other countries where I could not say what I was feeling about life, about my husband, or about the government. Women especially have had their rights of speech silenced throughout history.

I did not speak when I was younger. I knew how, but I chose not to say anything. That is until I read a poem that is posted somewhere in my journal. I do not know who wrote it, and have been unsuccessful in finding the author, but it showed me the importance of speaking. The poem is as follows:

If an eagle be entrapped on the back of a coin
and the coin be tossed into the sky
the coin would flip
the coin would flutter
but the eagle would never fly.

I applied that my speech. I was trapped inside myself and I needed wings to fly. That poem gave me the strength to start to find my own wings. I cannot imagine having to stop writing my thoughts and feelings, which are not always good and proper, and go back to being the obedient silent girl that I was back then. So to answer the question on how I would express my feelings if I could not say them aloud or write them down, I couldn't. I have to write them down. It is the only way I fly.

There are still people in the world struggling to fight for their freedom to speak. Women especially. To those people I would have to say to find how you feel in someone else's print. Sometimes only you can say how you feel, but sometimes other's words can be exactly what your heart is screaming.

I am thankful to live in a country where I have this essential freedom.


Word Count 317