According to Quantcast, my readers are ‘primarily older’. Many of you many not remember your college own application essays and may be more concerned about college application essays of your children.

I must admit, I don’t remember my college application essay, and I suspect I would be embarrassed to read what I wrote thirty years ago. There is a standard sort of question that typically gets asked, “Evaluate a significant experience, achievement, risk you have taken, or ethical dilemma you have faced and its impact on you.” Perhaps this would be another good blog meme for people to explore.

When I was seventeen, I’m sure there were plenty of significant experiences I was all too willing to write about, experiences that in retrospect seem pretty insignificant.

How many of us wrote college application essays that we would be proud of thirty years later, that people would want to share and discuss? Recently, however, I had the opportunity to read a college application essay written this year by a seventeen year old, whom I believe will be rightly proud of her essay years to come. With her permission, I am posting it here. It is self-explanatory, but my regular readers should recognize the story almost immediately.

This year I have come to understand why liberty and justice are symbolized with scales. There is a lot to be balanced and decisions can weigh heavy. Since May 2007, a series of good and bad decisions, made by myself and others, has led me on a journey filled with risk and opportunities.

The first decision that I made reflected positively on my character. I fully invested myself in student government and worked hard in my elected positions. Frustrated over scheduling snags and short-notice cancellation of a school event (Jamfest), I went home and posted a blog on an obscure Live Journal page. In the blog I encouraged people to petition the government – a good decision; it was political speech. The bad decision was the opening line, “Jamfest is cancelled due to the douchebags in central office.” Not my finest moment.

Along with other student leaders I rallied community support for Jamfest and the event was rescheduled. However, my decision to use an unsavory term was still sitting out there on the scales of justice, waiting to be weighed. A month after the scheduling was resolved the superintendent’s son stumbled across my blog. As a result, the principal punished me. She said I had to apologize to the superintendent, tell my mother, step down from all leadership positions and withdraw my nomination for secretary of the Class of 2008 (I had been secretary for three years). This was when the lessons from my civics class became really relevant to my life. I agreed to the principal’s first two requirements, but refused the third.

The school administrator’s had their own scales of justice – my opinion did not tip the balance and the punishment was final. Efforts to negotiate with the administrators were refused. A write-in campaign by my peers (I won the majority of votes) was ignored; and “Team Avery, Support LSM Freedom of Speech” t-shirts were confiscated (illegal according to Tinker). As I researched civil rights, my scale tipped and I filed a lawsuit. This was a hard decision; I’ve never been in trouble, I am an involved student, yet I did use an unsavory word. My mother also put my words on her scale of justice. She found my comment rude, sophomoric, and below the standards she has set. My mother’s decision, as one commentator put it, “Avery, you’re grounded and we’re going to the Supreme Court” (Colin McEnroe).

At age 16 I became a citizen fully absorbed in the democratic process. I filed for injunctive relief; not suing for money but for justice. I testified for four hours in federal court; I have done tons of print and broadcast interviews; I have spoken to large audiences about my story and First Amendment rights; and was the poster child for Poets and Writers for Free Speech. I have learned the big cases decided by the Supreme Court as well as how my case is different. Most important are the lessons that have become a part of me.

I believe in democracy. I believe in the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. I believe that each citizen is responsible for participating in the maintenance of democracy by challenging government officials when they over reach. The principal accused me of a failing to be a good citizen. I disagree. Apathy and passivity are poor citizenship. Rallying students and the community to petition the government is good citizenship. I failed at vocabulary, not citizenship. However, the First Amendment does not limit protection to those with sophisticated vocabularies (though I will never make that mistake again).

Democracy is a gift that Americans have inherited, but it requires maintenance and care. Democracy needs to be protected at the lowest levels if we are to have a democracy at the highest levels. If as citizens we refuse to defend liberty in our own backyards, how do we expect to bring democracy to Iraq or Korea or any place suffering under totalitarianism? Civil liberties are eroded slowly when citizens don’t bother to insist on challenging unconstitutional practices. Citizens, particularly students who are the next generation of leaders, have to be willing to take on the responsibility of protecting democracy while enjoying the rights democracy allows.

Eventually, the scales of justice will decide whether students have free speech off campus in the age of the Internet and whether there is a difference between shouldn’t have said and didn’t have the right to say. No matter the outcome in court, I am proud that I was willing to participate in the democratic and judicial systems. I will continue to defend civil rights, to think critically, and to consider the consequences of my words. While I don’t plan to live my life according to bumper stickers, I am going to think globally and act locally.

This weekend, citizens across the state and across the country will be going door to door, speaking with their neighbors about why they should support this candidate for City Council or that candidate for Board of Education. They will make phone calls, and next Tuesday, they will go to their voting booths.

If you believe in democracy, if you believe in the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, if you believe that each citizen is responsible for participating in the maintenance of democracy, then please participate in our democracy this weekend and next Tuesday.

Help hold elected and government officials accountable when they overreach, whether it be a school superintendent, members of a school board, or people working in the highest office of our land.

“Democracy is a gift that Americans have inherited.” Please help maintain it.