I am PROUD.

I am proud of being an American citizen.

I am proud of the fact that as I lay silent--lips sealed in fear that if I speak the wrong word, utter something that disagrees with the majority of the public, I will be punished and terrorized and branded as "unpatriotic"--my rights and liberties are being taken away.

I am proud of being an American citizen: I am proud of the fact that, when I am old and decrepit, I will have no health insurance and social security to fall back upon.

I am proud of the fact that my children will die as martyred innocents in future gang wars that were caused because gun control laws slowly dwindled away and became nonexistent.

I am proud of being an American citizen.

I am proud of the fact that I must learn to fear my neighbors because if what I say doesn't agree with them and the governmental administration, I will be reported. I am proud of the Patriotic Act and the fact that my right of free speech has been taken away from me.

I am proud of the fact that I have the ability to watch the brothers of my friends pick up their weapons to fight in a war that no longer has any meaning.

I am proud of the fact that soon I, too, will be required to pick up my own weapon to fight in a war in which I will die, blood running from gunshot wounds, as red as the stripes in our nation's flag.

I am proud to be living in a country where the words "justice," "liberty," and "equality" are still ideals that we have yet to achieve.

I am proud of the fact that I now have the ability to stand in an emergency room and watch as a gay man desperately tries to plead with the ward's head nurse to see his partner, but is denied access because he is not the other's "spouse."

I am proud of being an American citizen, for that means that other countries will look upon me with disgust and hatred.

I am proud of being an American citizen, for that means that I have the God-given right to disregard international policies that took years to create. I am proud of the fact that this disregard and high-handedness will soon lead to misunderstandings, chaos, and--eventually--war.

I am proud of the fact that I will die of lung disease, caused by the pollution in the atmosphere, because the government decided that drilling for oil was more important than preserving our environment.

I am proud.

I am proud to be an American citizen, because the America that I was promised still remains a dream that I cherish with all of my heart and soul.

This nation that I live in now denies everything that "America" is supposed to represent. This is not my America. This should be no one's America.

I am not proud to be an American citizen.

-- Bryanna Sandoval

just breathe