As the opinion columnist for the “Union,” thankfully, I am blessed with higher ups who remind me now and then that I have been selected for a marquee position at EC.

The “Union” is a megaphone that projects my voice to hundreds, if not thousands, of people who are willing to listen, students, faculty, administration, and alumni.

Week in and week out, I can exercise my right to say what I want through this channel. The process reflects freedom of speech in action, and my editors encourage it. America, [expletive] yeah!

Now, I chose to utilize that “Team America” expression and physically typed out “bracket-expletive-end bracket” to further a point: There is an implied sense of responsibility in the way that I communicate with all of you.

I am like everyone else. However, I chose to grab a megaphone and stand on a raised platform in front of a large audience. Speech magnified, everything said bears more weight, and what is said is more intensely reflective of me.

The weird way my brain connects things up, I parallel my situation of responsibility to the climax of Arthur Miller’s “The Crucible.”

Believing little girls who accuse townspeople of witchcraft, Salem’s leaders declared to alleged witches that confession to witchcraft is life, but denial means execution.

Miller’s tragic figure, John Proctor, denies witchcraft and chooses death crying out, “Because it’s my name! Because I cannot have another in my life! I have given you my soul; leave me my name!”

For Proctor, his name is the equivalent to his life. To die with his honor and word intact is better than to live with a maimed, tainted name.

While the situation is a little different, the same precept underlies my situation and Proctor’s: Talk isn’t cheap. What you say defines who you are.

We are all in a position of authority. Freedom implies that we govern our own lives and are enabled, within reason, to do as we please.

The catch is we are responsible for our use of freedom. In this case, that responsibility is the megaphone with which we project our beliefs.

Sometimes we lose sight of the impact that we have on others by our speech and actions, or in my case, writing. These days, the lines are so blurred it’s hard to tell when we are out of line.

While to some, one’s juvenile actions might be tolerated in certain situations, to others those actions are intolerable anywhere, anytime.

We all hold megaphones and we all exist on the platform that is America and the audience is watching.

I read in a book somewhere once, constant vigilance. America is the land of second chances. However, some mistakes just bite you in the ass. Hard.

Be responsible. Don’t make that mistake.