Edmondson1

IsabelEdmondson
Ms.Gardner
English10H/Period6
18November2015
LostVoices
1

Fellowstudentsandpeers,letmeaskyouaquestion.Haveyoueverheldbackanideaor

thoughtbecauseyoufeltpeoplewouldimmediatelyrejectordiscardit?Doyoufeelinferiorto
thosewhoareolderandsupposivelywiserthatyou?2Arewesupposedtoneglectourcreativity
andindividualityjustbecausewefeelasthoughwemust?Weshouldnthaveto.3Nooneshould.
Ashumansweallhaveourownthoughts,butsomanygounsaidfornumerousreasons.
Theyouthespeciallyfeelinferiortoanyoneolderthanthem,andforthatreasontendtohold
backopinions,ideas,andanyotherthoughtsthataredifferentfromthenormsofsociety.We
tendtosaywhatpeoplewanttohearratherthanwhatweareactuallythinkingorfeeling.Butif
youonlysaywhatotherswanttohearyoubecomean4Echo.Weholdbackideaswithgood
intentionshowever,itcouldactuallybeharmingusandeveryoneelseintheprocess.
Suppressingotherideasaswellasourownisnothelpfultoanyone.Allitisdoingis
limitingusasasociety.Weneedtostartencouragingnewwaysofthinkingandembraceour
ownuniquethoughts.SomeoneoncesaidSomethingsarebetterleftunsaidbutthatisnot
alwaysthecase. 5Ourthoughtsaresecretsthatremainunknownuntilwespeakourmind.A
thoughtthatgoesunsaidisathoughtthatcouldbelostforever.Ofcoursenotallthoughtsare

DirectAddress
RhetoricalQuestion
3
ShortSentence
4
Allusion
5
Metaphor
2

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geniusorlifechanging,butpeoplebuildingoffofeachother'sideascanleadtosomething
revolutionary.6Allweneedtodoislistenaswellasshareourideas.7 Fromrichtopoor,from
youngtoolditdoesnotmatter.Nomatterwhatage,race,genderweareallhumanandweall
havetherighttobeheard.Nooneshouldsuppresstheirown8 individualideasjustbecausethey
feelasiftheywillbeimmediatelyshutdown.Allowingeveryonetobeheardcanleadtonew
innovations,ideas,andsolutionstounsolvedproblems.
Agedoesntdefineyouorhowvalidyourideasare.Somepeoplemaydenythefactthat
peopleingeneraltendtoneglectthoughtsofthosewhoareyoungerthanthem.Manypeopledo
infactfeelsuperiorbecausetheyareolderandsubconsciouslybrushawayyoungerpeoples
ideas.Ofcoursenoteveryonedoesitregularlyoronpurposehowever,manypeopledonot
considerotherpeoplesopinionsespeciallyiftheyareyoungerthanthem.9Theydonotthink
kidsideas,northoughts,noropinions,orquestionsareasvalidorimportant.Peoplemaythink
sincetheyouthhavelesseducationorexperiencethattheirideasarenotasimportantcompared
toahighlyeducatedadultwhohasexperiencedtherealworld.
Kids,teens,andyoungadultsaresupposedtobethemostcreative,andthatcreativity
shouldneverbeobstructedbythatofthegenerationsbefore.10 Kidswillbeadultsadultswere
oncekids.AstheNationalYouthRightsAssociationstates:
Letsfaceit:youngpeoplearethe
futuretheyalwayshavebeen.Itisthevaluesandperceptionsinstilledinyoungpeoplewhich
willcarryoverintoadultlifeanddominatesocialactivitytherein(
Dominick).Weaspeople
shouldsupportnewideasandnurturethecreativitywithinfuturegenerationsaswellaswithin

ImperativeSentence
Antithesis
8
Alliteration
9
Polysyndeton
10
Chiasmus
7

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ourselves.Neverbeafraidtothinkoutsideoftheboxorcreatesomethingnewthathasnever
beenthoughtofbefore.
Creativityiskey.AsNewsweek.comstates:Theaccepteddefinitionofcreativityis
productionofsomethingoriginalanduseful...Thereisneveronerightanswer(Bronson).
Allowingmorecreativityandbylisteningtootherswecanlearnalotmoreaboutpeopleaswell
asourselves.Sharingthoughts,ideas,andopinionscanallowustogrowmoreandadvance
faster.Itisalsohealthierforourselvestoexpressemotionsverballyorthroughothercreative
activities.Shareyourideasaswellaslistentootherpeoplesinordertoallowcreativityto
flourishwithinyourself.Neverholdback,anddontholdbackothersintheprocess.11 Your
voiceisimportant.Yourvoiceisspecial.Yourvoicedeservestobeheard.

Weallhaveavoice,andwealldeservetouseit.

11

Anaphora

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WorksCited
Bronson,Po,andAshleyMerryman."TheCreativityCrisis."
Newsweek
.NewsweekLLC,2015.
Web.2Nov.2015.
Dominick,Brian,andSaraZiaEbrahimi."YoungandOppressed."
NationalYouthRights
Association
.Wordpress,2014.Web.5Nov.2015.