No, You Cannot

By Kayla B., Cypress, CA

It is a new nation,
a nation that proudly proclaims:
“Yes we can.”
But what power holds “yes we can,”
when America has told many of our
brothers and sisters
“no, you cannot”?
You cannot follow your heart.
You cannot move forward.
You cannot take a hand.
You cannot break the mold.
“Marriage is a holy bond
for a man and a woman
it is not yours to taint,” they say.
Where is the future?
Relentlessly we must
keep striving for a better day.
We must stop this hatred
and bring about change in the
wake of defeat.

This piece has been published in Teen Ink’s monthly print magazine.

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This article has 383 comments. Post your own!

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Muzix said...
yesterday at 4:52 pm:

I agree and great job

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Lillie M. said...
Feb. 8 at 11:09 am:

It'd be hard to disagree with that. Your point is so perfectly made, and true.

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thebrighterparts said...
Feb. 8 at 7:49 am:

I agree utterly.

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D. said...
Jan. 17 at 10:21 pm:

Not only is this a beautifully written poem, it gets accross a point that is 100% true. Your repetition of 'you cannot' really shows what the central theme of the poem is. Even if I didn't have the same beliefs, I would be hard pressed to disagree after reading a poem like this.

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jesusfreak23 said...
Jan. 17 at 9:33 pm:

Christianity is not a religion. it is a relationship. an amazing, indescribable, real relationship with our creator. society and government has morphed being a Christian into something restricting and "unconstitutional".

thebrighterparts replied...
Feb. 8 at 7:49 am :

I disagree. I don't think that Christianity has been made unconstitutional; I believe that people must disagree. Christianity is a beautiful religion. Being a homosexual is just part of who and what you are. You can't change that.

jesusfreak23 replied...
Feb. 8 at 4:07 pm :

that's where i believe many people are wrong. their minds are too conformed to the concepts and beliefs of this society. not everyone is bold enough to be unconformed and set themselves apart from the crowd for God. but hey. people are going to disagree.

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soldierx said...
Jan. 17 at 1:18 pm:

This is sooo true, i love it! Good job. (:

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Jazzimaniac said...
Dec. 26, 2011 at 8:34 pm:

WOW this is so true!

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WriteItOff said...
Dec. 26, 2011 at 5:03 pm:

Preach it! This is so true, we are the youth of this nation, if we change, then in a decade or so, so does America. Its that easy :)

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FrAme said...
Dec. 26, 2011 at 1:20 pm:

I never said it was founded on Christianity, only the beliefs, and when I say that I simply mean the moral ones, not the belief in a God.

BlueRain replied...
Dec. 26, 2011 at 2:50 pm :

"This country was founded upon Christian beliefs and the standards that Christians place upon themselves" is what you said, so I interpreted it that way. Christians aren't the only ones with morals you know. Religion and morals are two separate ideas. You can be moral without having a religion. Religion only sets up punishment and reward for anyone who follows those morals, and many people can live without fear of punishment or wanting a reward just for being good people.

FrAme replied...
Dec. 26, 2011 at 3:57 pm :

You're missing the part that says, "... upon themselves have proven to be the best choices out of the alternatives." I'm only stating that this religion and others like it have set high standards for the followers to work towards. I didn't mean to imply that only Christians have morals, because I know many non-christian and even non-religious people that lead more moralistic lives than Christians.

BlueRain replied...
Dec. 26, 2011 at 5:49 pm :

Yes, it is true there is a larger amount of moral humans who are religious, but that is often because the need for a reward or punishment for their behavior is great. Since they believe in a powerful being who is able to do anything at anytime, that influences their actions. For myself, I don't do good things because I fear judgement of someone else, but because my own self judgement is very strong. As a human being I have an instinctual set of rules for myself as well as a societal set of rules... (more »)

StarChild replied...
Jan. 17 at 10:34 am :

Okay I'm braking this up. This country was founded on people that wanted religion rights and others among that category. Teen ink is a site where teens are supposed to speak freely and say what they want to say. If you don't like what they said... Leave the page. Let it go. There's so many people in this world and I'm sure someone agrees with them and same to you. Religion is a choice. It shouldn't pull people apart.

FrAme replied...
Jan. 17 at 7:56 pm :

Sorry if it came across as a fight. I saw it more of a debate then anything else. We just had conflicting ideas that we wanted the other to understand. Am I wrong BlueRain?

BlueRain replied...
Jan. 20 at 4:50 pm :

I wasn't going towards a fight. Just like you said, a discussion. Though many of the morals we follow are found in the Christian religion, that doesn't mean they were founded on Christian morals. The morals we (try) to practice in America can be found in other religions. We just correspond them with Christianity because we have a large amount of Christians in this country.

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Ella1 said...
Dec. 26, 2011 at 10:35 am:

I like your message and how you related it to real life events. Good Job

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. said...
Dec. 4, 2011 at 8:11 pm:

this poem is amazing :D

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FrAme said...
Dec. 4, 2011 at 7:27 pm:

This country was founded upon Christian beliefs and the standards that Christians place upon themselves have often been proven to be the best choices out of the alternatives that might be presented.

Although I disagree, I respect your opinion and understand why you think it. :)

FrAme replied...
Dec. 4, 2011 at 7:30 pm :

This was meant as a reply to inspiredbytheworld's comment. Also, I think this poem could use a little more work, but it was good beside the choppiness.

BlueRain replied...
Dec. 26, 2011 at 8:28 am :

America was not founded on Christianity. If you look back in your history books, the Founders specifically put that there would be a separation of church and state, because they did not want religion to interfere in politics. There are also many resources that prove that the Founders weren't even Christians but Deists ie. people who may believe there was a higher power, but not necessarily the Christian god, and definitely not the bible. They believed more in logic to guide them through life tha... (more »)

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Fia-fia said...
Dec. 4, 2011 at 4:05 pm:

This is amazing!! Such a great message in such a good poem!!! Thank you for sharing!

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youngspeare said...
Dec. 4, 2011 at 4:06 am:

This is fabolous! The flow, the words, the style all epic.. :)
Check out my work if you have time. Would appreciate it.

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ilovearianna said...
Dec. 4, 2011 at 12:34 am:

i love it. nice job.

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sarahmichelle98 said...
Nov. 12, 2011 at 11:19 pm:

its very choppy. the message you attempt to send is definetley an interesting and controvercial one, but that doesnt mean that you can heavily rely on that and just leave the flow of the poem to be...well, nonexistent (excuse my spelling and grammar, trust me i dont usually write like this)

outoftheshadows replied...
Dec. 4, 2011 at 12:17 pm :

I dont think thats necessarily true. I enjoy the way this is written. Even the quotes fit well too.

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Dreammer said...
Nov. 12, 2011 at 11:36 am:

I really love this poem .. It's very true please look at dome of mine if you'd like

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EnigmaticBeing said...
Nov. 12, 2011 at 12:41 am:

The message is understandable, but whether or not I agree with it isn't something I'm sure about.

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indimcmathz said...
Nov. 12, 2011 at 12:37 am:

I love this, and I love the message.

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Lexie96 said...
Oct. 23, 2011 at 6:56 pm:

I really like it, and I agree with what you are saying also. How do we have freedom of religion in America when everything is ruled with principles based off of religion? If you or anyone else could check out my work sometime that would be great!

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TheIntellectualOne said...
Oct. 21, 2011 at 9:28 pm:

the viewpoint of this message is a bit unobstructed

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authorgirl_4_19 said...
Oct. 21, 2011 at 9:02 pm:

at what point, though, does the "yes we can"s cross the line, and breach the moral code?

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Larz2 said...
Oct. 21, 2011 at 7:29 pm:

inspirational

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inspiredbytheworld said...
Oct. 21, 2011 at 6:45 pm:

This is a beautiful poem, and I entirely agree with your views. I do not believe that homosexuality should be looked down upon. In my opinion, to outlaw same-sex marriage is to imply Christian principles. The government of America is supposedly represented by the people, for the people, but how did we end up making same-sex marriage illegal when some Americans are Atheist? I believe that if two men or two women want to marry, they should be free to do so. If America is a free country, then why a... (more »)

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HollonCharlsie said...
Oct. 21, 2011 at 1:26 pm:

i really like it. your words give out so much power and emotion. its wonderful:)

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maraquette.koss said...
Oct. 21, 2011 at 9:11 am:

This is a beautiful pice! i like the intesity of it

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Narene_baby said...
Oct. 21, 2011 at 12:05 am:

I really like the power in your word... If you could check out my stuff. Just trying to get some feedback. Thanks. :D

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lonelyLaviathin said...
Oct. 20, 2011 at 11:31 am:

good but it would be better if it were thikened up. just a bit.

me me lala gitl replied...
Oct. 21, 2011 at 9:05 am :

me to but it was a great story

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cayaTW said...
Oct. 12, 2011 at 7:45 pm:

I loved your opinion. I loved the way you portrayed it in your poem. I just read some of the comments and it makes me mad that some people are so closed minded especially one in particular.

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thatclarintetgirl said...
Sept. 29, 2011 at 8:15 pm:

I ahte hipcrites, but love your cause!

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Loleeta96 said...
Sept. 29, 2011 at 4:45 pm:

I love your poem and i totally agree with your veiws!

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Hester said...
Sept. 29, 2011 at 3:59 pm:

I don't agree with your views, but this is a well-written piece. Bravo!

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MissUnderStood.2011 said...
Sept. 29, 2011 at 1:42 pm:

This is very good :)

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SamiLynn said...
Sept. 7, 2011 at 5:32 pm:

i like the use of quotes :) it added power to the poem

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Jaded_Memories said...
Sept. 7, 2011 at 2:23 pm:

This is a good poem doll.Those who are shamelessly self promoting on someone else's work should really be embaressed. Read this poem, and give your feedback, but don't use this as an open spot to promote yourself. Do that elsewhere, not on others work. The constitution gives us the right to freedom of religion, this includes to not have a religiong also, so why in most states here in the U.S the goverment is still making laws based on the Christian religion is a mystery, and dissapointment to... (more »)

Jaded_Memories replied...
Sept. 7, 2011 at 2:26 pm :

Sorry, I meant to spell

Religion, not "Religiong."

Ha ha.

Torch replied...
Sept. 29, 2011 at 12:24 pm :

Did you know, Jaded, that America was originally created by our forefathers as a Christian nation? In the beginning, Christ, the Word, the Gospel, the Godhead, were our priorities, to be put above all else, including our own thoughts and feelings. It should not disappoint you that they are making laws based on the Christian religion. It should make you wonder how we strayed so far from what we started with.

-Torch Morris

AmayaSakaruta replied...
Oct. 21, 2011 at 8:44 am :

i believe in christ too, but christ never, never, n-e-v-e-r wanted us to force Him upon others. besides even if He did this is still a FREE country and we as Americans have no right to tell others what to believe.

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