<p>I'm shooting for a 10 or 11 next week...would an essay like this cut it? I cringe at all the grammatical errors. </p>
<p>"If you don't like something, change it. If you can't change it, then change your attitude. Don't complain." Is complaint pointless?</p>
<p>Complaining is not pointless. The process of speaking out is crucial to freedom. Speech is just as strong as action. This is clearly demonstrated by example from both history and politics.</p>
<p>Dr. Martin Luther King demonstrated that complaints, if they are made by enough people, can make a change. Since our country's roots, African Americans were always either oppressed or enslaved. After the Emancipation Proclamation, the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendmentsgave blacks citizenship, freed them, and let blacks vote. Nevertheless, they were still reduced to second class citizens by Jim Crow laws, which segregated them from whites. They could have simply "dealt" with it, but some felt it wasn't right. Dr. Martin Luther King spoke out against this oppression, and gave a voice to those who didn't have one. He led marches, and gathered a following. Eve though he was assassinated, the Civil Rights Act of 1965, which gave blacks equal citizenship, was passed mainly because of him. Dr. King shows us that a collective voice speaking out against something unjust is necessary.</p>
<p>Next, America's Bill of Rights protects our power to "complain" because it is so fundamental to human rights. The Anti-Federalists pushed for a bill of rights that would enumerate our American rights. They thought that freedom of speech was so important to protect constituents against tyranny. In the Federalist papers, the author (still unknown), writes that if a people do not have the power to speak out against the government, government will strip them of too much power. From the founding of our country, freedom of speech was an important issue: Complaints against gvernment are valid, not pointless at all.</p>
<p>Finally, we can look to the great example of Benazir Bhutto, former president of Pakistan. In traditional Islamic culture, women are the "property" of men. They are frequently abused, and confined to their houses. Rape goes unpunished, but a woman can be stoned to death for simply talking to another man. These women have always said that there was no use in complaining about their treatment, for who would listen? They didn't want to "whine". Finally, one woman stepped up--Benazir Bhutto. She spoke out about the treatment, and by her "complaints", people around the world were made aware of Muslim women's plights. She, like Dr. King, was killed, but her legacy has lived on. By her speech, millions of lives were improved.</p>
<p>In a final analysis, complaint is necessary to freedom and justice. Indeed, by lookig at the examples of Dr. King, the First Amendment, and Ms. Bhutto, we see that complaint is important.</p>