On April 20, 1999 a massacre at Columbine High School in Colorado occurred. High school boys, now known as the "trench coat mafia," brought guns onto the Columbine campus and fired away at their classmates. Many of the students were wounded, and thirteen of them lost their lives.

Of the thirteen was one girl who said "yes." Her name was Cassie Bernall. She said Yes, when her killer asked whether she believed in God.

Cassie was 17 as of April 20, 1999, and it ended up being her last living day. It was 11 am on that fateful day, when the trench coat mafia came into the library and started firing away at classmates. Cassie ducked for cover underneath a nearby table, but it wasn't much protection from the gunmen.

One of the mafia boys approached Cassie and dragged her out from underneath the table. He asked, "Do you believe in God?" and she said "yes." He then put a gun to this girl's head and shot her. By noon, the killer took Cassie's life simply because she believed in something he did not.

It is so unclear to me as to why someone would take away another person's freedom like Cassie's murderer did. She did nothing more than tell

We have the freedom of choice. All of us can associate with whichever religion we want to believe in. Again, Cassie lost her life for utilizing her rights.

If everyone believed that everyone is equal to each other, then I do believe that this would be a country without massacres and killings. I am firmly convinced that people murder, whether it be in large or small numbers, because they feel that they have rights that their victims do not possess.

Had she said, "No, I don't believe there is God," it is debatable as to whether she'd be alive today. Still, as her mother writes in She Said Yes her little girl probably would be alive to share her part in the tragedy at Columbine High School.

The Declaration of Independence clearly states, however, that we are all equal to one another. That is, that we all share the same basic freedoms. We have the right to free speech, which is exactly what Cassie did. She spoke what she believed in, and still she lost her life as a result.

Reading Bernall's book brought me to the sad realization that the United States isn't always filled with "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." The founding fathers did strive to make that a reality

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Approximate Word count = 813
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)