Kinsley High School
Kinsley, Kansas
Teacher: Dr. Galen R. Boehme
My Community Relationships
By: Derek S. Habiger
12th Grade
To build a strong community we must practice individualism, have partnerships with one another, and realize the importance of personal duties.
Everyone in a community must be allowed to exercise individualism. This includes their beliefs, their background, and also their human rights. Having strong values allows everyone to maintain a strong sense of community.
My personal community has a number of churches. I am a member of the Catholic Church along with many other community members. Other community members, who do not attend the Catholic Church, might attend the Christian, Methodist, Baptist, Lutheran, or any of several other churches. There is nothing wrong in attending other churches. Attending church helps me feel I am a part of the community. The church teaches me to follow church rules and to work as part of a team with other community members. I personally enjoy the feeling of giving back to the community that has given so much to me. Most people come from different backgrounds, which is positive for the community. Having different backgrounds helps to bring to the community different races and life styles. This helps build diversity in our community. I am honored to be a part of this community. Different backgrounds will make the community more interesting. With everyone in a community we must still have individual human rights. Having these rights will help everyone respect everyone else. I have my personal rights as part of the local community. I must know when I am invading another community member’s rights, and in return he must know when he is invading my rights.
We must have partnerships with one another within the community. Partnerships can come in many forms including friends, family, and the community. I have many individual friendships and partnerships within the community. They benefit me and I hope to benefit them. I should learn to trust them and they should learn to trust me. My family membership is stronger than my friends, because I am expected to love family members and accept their discipline. I love my family for what they are and because they have done so much for me. I try my best to return the love they have given me. Much of what I have learned comes from my family. Discipline is important to my parents. They try to teach my sisters and me that we must act properly even when they are not around. I am thankful for my parents’ teaching me discipline at a young age. I think it would be a hard trait to learn at an older age. The last partnership that is important is the world partnership. We must some day learn how to get alone with all the many countries in the world. If not we will sooner or later isolate ourselves. This relationship must be done with loyalty and peace. Loyalty is important in a world partnership because if one country does not trust another county then they will not tolerate one another. Loyalty can then bring peace among various countries. With just these two important traits, there would be a much stronger world partnership.
We must realize the importance of our duties to the community. This needs to be strongly slanted to the local community. It is also unique because almost everyone’s duty is different. Among the responsibilities I have are those to my peers, to the environment, and to my neighbors. With my peers, my duty includes to consider how my community looks. I like to have the area around me looking like a place I can be proud of and enjoy. Hopefully this is also a place where people feel safe, a place where their belongings will not be stolen. I have bad feelings when I am in a large city or in the slums. I am uncomfortable and do not trust anyone around me. Having the community look attractive makes me feel good. The environment is another interest I have. I do not like to see people throw their trash out of their cars window. When I see trash lying around the community I feel disrespected by people. These individuals make my community look dirty. My responsibility is to improve the look of the community. My last duty to the community is very unique. My duty to each neighbor is different. They all have different tasks, with a different type of responsibility. Some duties I have for my neighbors are done just because they may need help. Other duties are done to return a favor. Our duties to our neighbors are unique and will always be special to us because they teach us the true meaning of our duty to each other.
For us to succeed in having a strong community we must put aside our personal individualism, and we must have a strong bond and partnership. This may help the benefit of our local community.