The Cost of Freedom

Eighth grade Belle Chasse Middle School student, Kayla Reed, placed first in the Louisiana Association of Fairs and Festivals Essay Contest.  Below is her essay:

"The Cost of Freedom"

The government says that Hurricane Katrina was the most costly disaster in the United States.  But I can name one higher, the cost of freedom.  The United States is one of the few countries that have many freedoms.  Unfortunately, certain occurrences keep us from living to the full extent.

In September of 2001, our country was devastated when terrorists hijacked four planes and crashed them into various places in our country.  However, the cost of post-9/11 is much greater.  The cost was great and increased our country's debt.  More so was the actual war in Iraq.  It cost our country a lot of money to repair the World Trade Centers and Pentagon, so was the cost to create supplies for the war.  We needed to produce tanks, guns, missiles, planes and other materials that could aid in the victory of our country.

To fund this, the government needed money and a lot of it.  Taxes were raised.  You may think, how much money can be raised on taxes alone?  Well, when you live in a country with personal income, social security, state, local corporation income, sales, excise, property, estate, tariff, inheritance and gift taxes, then there is a lot of money gaines, especially when some people paying these taxes pay them on several million dollars.  These taxes don't just come from the people; they come from other countries that buy our goods and the corporations that sell them.  With all of the extra taxes, it's a miracle will still have enough money to survive.  If this is not a cost of freedom, I don't know what is.

The greatest cost of living we are forced to pay, which has no dollar value but affects all of the United States, are the lives lost in our country and our state of living.  As a result of recent battles and wars with Middle Eastern countries, many U.S. troops were sent to Iraq.  Many soldiers were killed defending our country and, ultimately, our freedom.  Others were slaughtered by suicide bombers' attempts to get rid of all U.S. troops.

The events following September 11 have also taken a toll on our state of living.  Our standard of living is quite high as we live quite comfortable lives.  However, after the terrorist attacks on our country, security was heightened in airports.   People all over were, and still are, terrified to leave the safety of their homes.  Who is saying that terrorists won't come to the United States and set off car bombs, kill innocent students at a place where parents know they cannot be harmed or take over more flights?  Nothing can calm the country until we finished what we've started.

In conclusion, our country comes with a rather high price, the cost of freedom.  This does not come at a low price for us. We needed large sums of money to fund wars and invations, which were paid for by our tax dollars.  but the most costly aspect of our bill is greater than any sum of money can ever satisfy, the lives of our fellow Americans and famly members and our feeling of protection.  As you can see, the cost of freedom for the United States of America is not one that can be paid for with money alone.