Dear America,

You don’t exactly know me but I have waited, and waited, and waited. Now is the time to write this letter that I have been holding back and I can’t help but express how frustrated I am with you! What happened to your honesty? What happened to freedom and truth? Sure, we are protected by our Bill of Rights; still, it cannot shelter us from the pain that is the world outside our walls.

You used to be different. Oh, but look, How you have changed over the years! I remember you were a place where I could be with my family without a care in the world. You were the haven around our hearts, our shelter through storms and thunder. You were a place where I could dream of being a ballerina and dress up like princesses, capturing sweet memories from my past of eating mango pineapple popsicles in the summertime. Life was good back then.

Now, we are haunted with image of violence, mourning for the soldiers who sacrificed their lives in Iraq for something that we could've resolved easily. Do you even care anymore? Do you? It just frustrates me how most of the world’s problems could be solved if everyone just said what the f*** they meant.

Sure, no problem, go ahead and pretend that sexism and racism has ceased. You can believe whatever you want to, but you can be sure that it is not true. Let me ask you this: Whatever happened to the ‘Land of the free?’ Are they just words? We’re forced to pay unfair taxes and the whole health care thing? Ridiculous! I find it so sad that people who give to you every single day don’t even get fair health insurance? We put in so much hope in you. I’m not saying there’s you’re all bad. We love you, we truly do. You are our pride. But answer me this: how can we still have hope in you when you’ve let us down?

America, as teenagers, you expect us to be the future leaders of tomorrow, but how can we when we don’t have anyone as role models? Sure we see anorexic models in skimpy magazines, stereotypes on television. Are these people who you want for us? Why not the boy who just won the National Scholar’s Award or the girl who just created a fund to help save millions of people from hunger and starvation? America, I want a leader. Not just politicians who make false promises that they can't keep. You say we can be whatever we want, but when we grow up, we are only forced into your expectations of us. I want to grow up to change the world. America, you may not know who I am, but when I come, you'll know.

Sincerely,
Pearl