At 7:30

Every morning,

In robotic voices,

We pledge our loyalty to our country.

Are our voices robotic

Because of repetition?

Or because no one wants to pledge their loyalty

To a place where

Those who are not Christians no longer feel safe?

A place where

Those who are not white

Are treated as their grandparents were

50 years ago?

A place where

Our citizens walk on broken glass

Waiting for the sleeping giant of war to awaken?

A place where

Hundreds of thousands of men, women, and children

Have to struggle to stay alive?

A place where

Young people are pushed to go to college

But when they do they leave hunched over,

Crippled under the weight of debt?

The land of the free

And the home of the brave

Isn’t so free anymore,

And its people are less inclined to be brave.

America may be better off than other countries,

We can brag about that all we want.

But that doesn’t change the fact

That we have the potential to be more than just “better”.

We have the potential

To be tolerant.

To bring peace for future generations.

To relieve the poor.

And to make education accessible to all.

We have the potential

To once again truly be the land of the free,

And the home of the brave.