Newell-Fonda High School
Newell, Iowa
Teacher: Connie Doonan  

Personal Aspects of Community
By Kaylee Koster
12^th Grade
 

Many people believe and limit community to…something that we all live in, but it can also be felt. It has an equal impact in people’s lives as does love and war.  Not only do we live within a town community, but we also live within a global [community] and within that global [community] are hundreds and thousands of other communities.  Each community plays a role in molding us into the people we are or who we are to become. Sometimes these experiences [are] good, and most of us like to remember these times, but there are other times when these experiences are filled with sorrow and grief.  Either way, the people of the community deal with and feel each experience differently.

  Our largest community is global; it consists of everyone and, affects each person differently, some more than others.  When thinking about our global community, many different images come to mind; the ones that always stick with me are those of pain and sadness.  Yes, there are many good things about our global community, but to make it better we need to focus on the bad.  When hearing about or seeing people and children who have nothing and are struggling to survive, sadness and sorrow flood my being. These people are thankful for the smallest of things, and while they worry about surviving another day, I worry about clothes and opinions.  When I continue to think about these people, I am ashamed of my selfish desires and think about ways that I could help.

Another community that has an impact on people is our national community.  Our nation gives me a sense of pride; it has had to deal with many different hardships and events that have molded it [into what] it is today. 

  I’d like to emphasize the sense of pride that I hold for my ancestors.  All of my ancestors have endured…numerous…hardships [as well as] successes.  They formed a community through the lives that they lived.  Each family…had to learn a new language and form of living when they came…to the United States. I’m very proud to say several represented this country in a world war.  Not only did my grandparents fight in a war, but also while my grandparents were still in Holland, they put their needs aside and helped hide Jews during the Holocaust. 

While my ancestors give me a sense of pride, my local community gives me a sense of comfort and security.  The local community that I live in is very small but has the essential things to make growing up a good experience.  Within this community are friendly people who I have gotten to know as I’ve grown up. 

The hardships that my family has had to go through have resulted in a tighter bond.  My family provides someone to go to in times of trouble.  I am very grateful for the family that I have, and especially our close friendship.  Like every other family, we have the troublemaker who is misunderstood, and then the middle child who believes that she never got spoiled.  Joining them is the oldest, who likes to pick on the rest of us, and then last, as the youngest, is my twin brother and I.  As a young child I was devastated when I was separated from my twin brother, for the first time.  It was due to a fatal illness; my brother was diagnosed with leukemia, and even though everyone in the family reacted differently, each reaction came from a broken heart.  Looking back, this hardship has helped us remember to not take life for granted and to be thankful for all that we have.

My extended family is a community filled with love and laughter of all ages.  On one side of my family I am the youngest of the cousins but on the other, it’s the opposite.  On each side, I sometimes feel like an outsider, even though each is filled with love and acceptance.  I don’t have a middle ground between my extended families, but as I have grown older I have accepted this fact and have matured.  I love to have fun with my older family members and have mature conversations, and I also like to be a great role model for my younger cousins.  I believe it’s all about adapting and accepting one’s environment [and making] it fun….

Another very critical community for many people is that formed between friends.  Close friends are the cherry on top of an ice cream sundae; they are the people that we can trust, the people who keep you accountable, and the ones who understand.  While all friends get into fights, it’s because of those fights and memorable times that a friendship so great is created.  A close bond with another person is very valuable, and [such friends] can never be any less important than a person’s family. 

Finally, a very important and influential community for me is my church.  Within these walls are people of every heritage, age, maturity, and sex.  I love these people as much as I do my own family.  I have found some of my closest friends here and have shed a good amount of tears of both joy and sadness.  Within this church, people feel welcomed and accepted.  It is a safe environment and a beautiful community, but it is not perfect and has [faults] just like every community.  Nevertheless, these imperfections make this community even stronger and more worthy of trust.

So, while every person may feel impacted more by one community than another, each community helps to play a role in shaping and creating us….  Through thick and thin, the good and the bad, each community can be lived and felt.  …Each experience [helps] shape [an] individual.

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