McPherson High School
McPherson, Kansas
Teacher: Robin Long
Community
By: Michael Davis
What is Community? Since everybody thinks a little bit differently, everybody is going to have different views. What goes through my mind, for example, is Neighborhood Watch, community service, church groups and organizations that help the elderly. My views may be way different than the average person’s but at the same time they could be very alike. Let me explain why these few things are important to a good healthy community.
… Where my family lives we have a Neighborhood Watch;… neighbors watching for suspicious activity. My neighbors are all older. Many of them don’t have jobs, so they stay home and watch the neighborhood for fun. Many times they will let us know when someone came to our house when we weren’t there…. Just…paying attention is a necessity to have success with a good community. … With older people staying at home more and more, there is a very good possibility [we can]…crime in the community. My neighbors get together at least once a month to have a talk about the neighborhood. They discuss what we can do as neighbors to make our neighborhood safer and more comfortable. We…tell each other if we are going on vacation or leaving town for a weekend. This helps our neighborhood as well as the community. If more and more people would do this it would help. …It doesn’t necessarily have to be in a neighborhood. It could be in a business district, or in a very big corporation. If everyone watches everybody’s back, the community will be more effective….
Community service is another way to have a good community. Whether community service is done because of trouble or just doing it to be a part of the community, there are many tasks that can be done for community service. Mowing yards for the elderly, or going to a senior center and volunteering to help out, are just a few examples. Many people work with the public day in and day out, but not too many actually realize that every little job that they do actually is a benefit to the community. My grandma and grandpa are a good example of this. My grandparents do a “Meals on Wheels” service on every second and third Sunday of the month. It is a selected group of older people that get a dinner every Sunday of the month. My grandma and grandpa don’t realize what they are doing, they just do it [as] church [members]. But they are actually doing something that makes the community very strong. Many people are given the choice to do something good for the community. My grandparents are prime examples of good citizens in the community.
As previously stated, church groups are also a big part of the community. … Church groups do all sorts of community projects such as ski trips, painting buildings, [holding] fundraisers. A church group is not limited to just the church. It is a…way of getting kids to come together. … If you attend a church group, just take a look at all the kids that show up. What is done with that group may not be fun, but in the long run [it is] helping the community….
When the community [doesn’t come together] because something good happened; normally what it takes is for something bad to happen. Everybody takes for granted the good…[and] blanks [it] out. [Not so] the bad. But the good is what should [be noted]. It might not always be big, it could be as simple as holding the door open, or saying “thanks” for something that someone did for you. If the community is nice, and the people are friendly, our community will have an awesome environment. So my goal for everybody in the community is to take it upon themselves to do a good deed. If someone says “thanks”, say, “you’re welcome.” If someone doesn’t say acknowledge kindness, just shake it off. It makes one a better person, and also our community. Like I’ve always been told, “Pass it on…”