Calvert Hall College High School
Towson, Maryland
Teacher: George Kropp 

My Support System, My Community
By Paul Scheel
11^th grade

The word community may have different meanings to some people, but the same general idea is behind it: a group of people who act as a support system and that help others in a time of need no matter what the circumstances are.

However, today this philosophy seems to have been lost at the grand scale that it used to have. Today people are fighting and killing members of the community. Everyone wants to help himself or herself before they help others and this is what creates the tension that results in war and violence.

One could argue that there are certain times when people do help others, but the problem with most of these situations is that the sense of togetherness is lost too quickly before it has a chance to take hold. One example would be the tragic storm that hit Sri Lanka. Almost every country and organization rushed help to the devastated area. But now this is a distant memory and countries have lost that connection that they had before.

There are many levels at which a community can exist. The sense of community for each one of these levels can be different from person to person depending on the supporting cast surrounding them.

My communities are very strong for the most part because I choose to align myself with…people who share common goals and interests.

The largest community, the world community, which we are all apart of, is the one that needs the most work. As mentioned before, people need something dramatic to happen to bring attention to a need and then they start acting as a community. But what most people do not realize is that other people always need help and if everyone pitched in we could join forces to enact change for the better.

The next community, the United States, is not a whole lot better. The same type of thing needs to happen for people to join together, the prime instance being the attacks of September 11, 2001. For a long time the nation was pulled together and everything that could possibly get done was. Nobody cared about race or affiliation; they all just cared about one thing, our nation.

The local community is better than the previous two. In my case a person is able to ask neighbors and friends for help when they need it. A person may not even know the other one very well but if they hear that they are in need everyone will offer whatever they can. There are also many places where I can go and get help for an issue I need to take care of. Almost nobody in my local community will turn you away just because they do not like you or do not want to help.

In my personal opinion, the nuclear family is the most important community that will exist in anyone’s life. This is the one support system that you should be able to count on time and time again. My family, from the moment I was born, helped me become the person that I am today. My parents gave me a great education and whenever I have trouble with anything, I can turn to them for help.

The extended family is another that can offer tremendous support at anytime. One experience that is present in my life is when my grandfather died, my grandmother was alone a lot of the time. So my aunt decided that she would come about once a month and stay a couple days with her. Also whenever there is a long stretch where she does not come I stay with her. These same acts of generosity go a long way in helping my grandmother coup with a traumatic loss.

Another support system that people may not realize is there are their ancestors. They help establish a foundation on which the rest of the family can thrive. My ancestors, when they came over from Germany and Ireland were pretty poor and they slowly built up some money. My great-great grandfather started a chocolate business where he worked up to eighteen hours a day to make ends meet. The business was passed through the generations and is now thriving under the control of my grandfather and grandmother. These ancestors created opportunities for me that helped me and [those] that came after them to have better lives.

Second in importance to the family, is the community of my close friends. Although I may not be able to rely on the larger communities to help me, this is one I can count on. These are the people I can talk to when I am having a rough time and just need a buddy. These are also the people that I can talk to about stuff I cannot talk to my family about. I believe that because of my strong, reliable system of friends I am better off.

Lastly, a more unconventional community that I have is my football team. They provide a different kind of support, which usually involves joking around and hanging out. However when we step out onto the field for a game we unite as one for a common goal that we can only achieve together. This sense of community creates a special bond that is unbreakable for many years and sometimes forever.

After reflecting upon each of the communities that are present in my life it is clear that some are stronger than others. Another trend that seems obvious is that as fewer and fewer people are within a certain community, the stronger and stronger it is. What needs to change is this discrepancy between communities. The world and national communities need to act as one and not be divided over menial issues that can be solved with words not violence. Also they need to forget past differences and realize that we are all human beings and that we should love one another.  

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