Day 5 - Connor

America. That one word fills some hearts with pride, others with nothing. Many of us simply do not feel American, not connected to the country as a whole. Why is that? Because we have no great seat of power to rally around? No King or Queen whose names we shout as we charge into battle? Yet we do. We do have a great power. Greater than any single man, woman, or child. Our rallying point is us. We the people. America isn’t a single ruler, it isn’t a single religion or doctrine. America is you. It is me. It is all 314 million of us. And all of us have power -  the greatest power ever given to any human being on this planet. The power to govern and rule ourselves - free of any absolute authority or dictator. But with this greatest of powers comes the greatest of responsibilities. The responsibility, the duty, to use his power not for personal gain, but to protect and preserve our rights and freedoms. For there are those who would wish to take our freedoms, to see us languish under an iron heel, unable to do, say, or think what we want, unable to express ourselves. But for those who are not free are like a single cog. They spin and spin, as fast and as violently as they can, but they will never accomplish anything for they are one. America is different. We are many, many cogs and gears, all turning ourselves and each other. Some are larger and have greater parts to play. But take away just one, no matter how small and all that we have worked for, all we have strived for, will halt and crumble. However, if we stay together, stay strong as one nation, one people, one America, then we will accomplish wonders that no other country can attain.