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

Me an My Connection to Community
By Kerry Fitchett
12^th grade

Community is something that people feel through everything they do.  They can feel it through everyone around them.  Community is a great thing to feel, it makes people value themselves and people around them.  Community is walking down the street and waving to a passing neighbor, it is helping an elderly person with their groceries, and it is just being around when someone needs a friend.  Doing something good for someone and not expecting anything in return is feeling community.

The world is a community full of grief and famine.  People from other countries are dying from the most horrible diseases.  We as Americans are helping those less fortunate by donating money to get them clothing and food.  People also go to other countries and help with medical treatment.…  As a community, people need to help those who cannot help themselves.

In a national community, our states help other states in times of need.  When a disaster hits one state, all states suffer.  They pull together, become one big family, and help those in need.  People in need are the people who have lost their homes to floods, hurricanes, and tornadoes [as well as] the families who lost loved ones in the terrorist attacks on the world trade centers.  During times such as these, the states come together and help the people that are in need of new homes and money.  They donate to charities to help the children that have lost their parents or to the parents that have lost their children. 

 My local community is a great place to raise a family.  Everyone in my town knows everyone.  People make it a point to meet all the new neighbors who move in to town.  When my family first moved here all the people around us came over with baked goods.  It made us feel really welcomed into the neighborhood.  In our local community, there are activities that children can do to keep themselves out of trouble.  With knowing every one in town, it makes it easier for children to run to anyone’s house when there is trouble.  They can trust the people around them to keep an eye out for strange people lurking around and making trouble.

Nuclear family is the family that you live with. However, in some cases people have two nuclear families.  Family is felt through love and support in everything that they do.  Families support people through hard times as well as good.  They are always there to give a helping hand when people need to remind them of what their dreams are and what they can do to accomplish them.  My nuclear family is my rock.  They are always their for me.  I can tell my mom pretty much anything and she doesn’t pass judgment or yell at me.  She sits down and she treats me like an adult and she listens.  Listening is one of the most important things when it comes to families.  

Extended family members are the members that don’t live in the household but they are related somehow.  They are aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandparents that are still alive.  Some people may not even see members of their extended family until a holiday comes around.  In a small community where most of my family lives, I see them all the time.  It can get annoying when you see the same people day after day.  I argue with many of my cousins and I do not get along with some of my aunts and uncles. It goes that way - families always fight - its inevitable.

Ancestors are a big part of everyone’s community.  They are the reason that we are living.  If my ancestors [hadn’t] fought for their rights and moved to this country I wouldn’t be here right now writing this paper on community.  The only thing that I know about my heritage is that I am half German, one-fourth Polish, Irish and Swedish.  My grandpa was in world war two.  He jumped out of planes, and I guess they called that Para trooping.  I have never really asked my grandma about her family because she does not like to talk about it.

 I only have a few close friends at my school. I am not one of those popular people that have to have a ton of friends to feel important.  I have two best friends that I could never live without.  We pretty much do everything together; we are inseparable.  Then there are the people that I talk to but I don’t really hang out with so I don’t know if they could really be considered my friends or not.  Then there are people who I don’t even talk to but I have classes with them.  In our small school, it is easy to have either a ton of friends or only a few.

Along with all of these other communities, one more is a part of my community.  I work in that community.  I work at the Newell Good Samaritan Center.  It is a long-term care facility here in Newell Iowa.  I am Certified Nursing Assistant; I help the elderly complete tasks that they cannot complete themselves.  I feel community through my work by knowing that I am helping someone other then myself.  I feel community every time one of the little old ladies says “Thank You” and smiles.

Doing something selfless for someone else is feeling community.  There are many ways that people can feel community.  People can feel community through everything that they want to.  Whether it is the world community or people from the back yard, the feeling of community is expressed and felt through so many things.  Community is a great feeling to share with friends and neighbors.

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