Two Special Essays
Lisa Burgess
Phoenix High School, Phoenix, Oregon
Have you ever been scared to watch the news because of all the negativeand depressing things happening? I'm aware that destitution and devastation are always the top stories of the night. If it isn't that some girl got nabbed from her house while her mother was there, it's a psycho who takes out Nancy Kerrigan, a world class figure skater. And the scariest part is thinking about how this could have been prevented. But some things cannot be prevented. I don't care how careful someone is, we are all potential victims. You cannot be a paranoid schizophrenic because you'll kill yourself worrying.
Yes, Mom, it isn't like it used to be. You could do all sorts of stuff and not worry about weirdoes. But Mom, I'm predicted to live to be
what, 79?
If I get some serious disease or illness, I have a better chance of living. Heck, in twenty years maybe I could be cured for just about
anything, and if not, they could freeze me and fix me later. But can someone tell me my odds of making it to 20 with all the stuff that my
generation is faced with? Someone is either murdered, raped, or killed in drunk driving accidents every hour, or something like that.
Yes, grown ups, I need to be more mature and take responsibility for my actions. I'm 17 years old here and not to blame for the ozone layer depletion. I'm just trying to enjoy my youth. Oh, but you tell me that all the time, too. All the problems you've put before me, though, to put it bluntly, are the ones that you "adults" have created for me. "Thanks!" I think that it is time for you "adults" to take responsibility for what you have or have not done. Don't get me wrong. I'm not some teen trying to shift responsibility. I am just a teen that would like a few "grown ups" to stop creating problems for me.
You know what makes life bearable for me? The fact that I have a chance to make a difference; the feeling that I, Lisa Burgess, may be able to do and be something important. What would it feel like to be a cancer researcher that takes an important step toward a cure, not to be glorified, but for so many other reasons. I read of how Jack Nicholson tried to donate 60 acres to conservancy in California anonymously, but it was publicized because too many people knew that he owned the land. There are so many people, though, that are not in the spotlight that do things anonymously and are successful.
People who could donate blood have no idea that something that takes less than an hour can be so valuable. Debra Bellm never realized how important it was until her daughter Nicole needed blood transfusions. Debra's co-workers lined up at the blood bank the next day when they learned of Nicole's condition. You really never think much of something until it happens to you or someone around you and then it becomes important. Although it was always important before, people always need a reminder.
Then there's the social worker that helps hundreds of people for a little above minimum wage. They're affected because they see things day in and day out. Hats off to those who truly enjoy their jobs serving in their communities. Not like a crooked governor, that we elect, that steals money from us tax payers, but the decent human being who lives next door.
I realize that along the way I could have moderate to serious problems, but either you deal with it and go on or not deal with it and go on.
Hey, it's that simple. People who take responsibility for their actions are the people with morals and a value system. That may be a bold
statement, but there's no time for hinting around anymore. Now is, I believe, a time for action. People are too self-centered, egotistical, and too proud for their own good. All too many people complain about all their problems without trying to help find solutions, not only with many of societies serious flaws, but even with their own meaningless problems.
Excuse me for calling those, trivial little problems, that coincidentally they got themselves into, but I see no comparison with a lot of other things. You think you've got it bad, but believe me, there's always someone who has it worse. Have you ever noticed, though, how in times of true disaster that directly affects people, they become closer and stronger through it? I think that maybe it's a hint that you're supposed to learn from your mistakes and use them beneficially. A good example is Magic Johnson with AIDS. He is now speaking out and trying to educate others.
I believe that the solution is education. Now this is not my solution, it has always existed. In fact, there is really no new solution. At one
time or another we have already found the solution, but not the courage, time, or resources to effect it, I guess. To teach, you cannot be a
hypocrite. The parent or teacher that says one thing and does another I cannot chastise enough.
Personally my main problem is the curfew thing with Ma and Pa. Oh, well, I'm almost 18. That's when I'll be considered an adult no matter how immature I am. It's scary, folks, because for a lot of people I'm your future and you're my test subjects. I'm creating the future for my kids and hope that, like so many other people, I can make it better for them.
Melissa Mix
Pioneer High School San Jose, California
It seems today we live in a society that judges the value of a person's life by wealth. Success is not judged by what you have accomplished, but by accumulations. Consequences are not viewed as the direct result of actions for which you accept responsibility, but what happens when you are "dumb" enough to get caught and are unfortunate enough not to find someone to blame.
My parents own a construction company. While working on a hillside lot, they constructed a chute to transfer materials from the top to the
bottom where they were working. One of the workers decided that he was going to slide down the chute for fun. When he landed he broke both ankles. It was my parents' fault because they should have told him not to do that.
Their company was also doing a driveway for another contractor. This man wanted color in the concrete of the driveway. My parents explained that in order to do this he would have to pay the additional fee for a sealer that would lock the color into the concrete. The man did not want to spend the extra money. When the driveway became discolored, he sued my parents because they should have insisted that he pay for the concrete sealer. After all, they knew more about it then they did.
An employee of my parents was making a delivery and he ran a red light. When he received a ticket, he wanted my parents to pay for it because his job supervisor always told him to hurry.
When growing up I was taught that taking responsibility for my actions and realizing that risks sometime come with consequences would be the best advice I would ever be given.
Between the years of 1989 and 1991, my family and I provided Christmas for several poor families. We requested the names and ages of all of the children and purchased a few gifts for each of them. My parents also requested that no one know who we were, so my dad dressed up as Santa and my sister and I wore elves' costumes. The children did not know that we were coming. All I can remember is their faces lighting up when they saw us and a grandmother of one of the families crying and kissing our hands. One boy my age came running out just as we were about to leave and hugged us and cried. This experience taught me priorities, perspective, responsibility to others, and the magic of Christmas.
During my Freshman and Sophomore years I worked at a soup kitchen "Martha's Kitchen". I saw families, single parents, and children, many just victims of circumstance, but many victims of their own bad choices in life. Working there in some ways made me more judgmental, but in other ways less judgmental. Most of all it taught me the difference between wants and needs.
Because my father came from a poor and troubled childhood, he is sometimes overly sensitive to young people who maybe just need a break, or guidance and direction. He sometimes gives them jobs, money, a place to stay or even their first car. Sometimes he is successful, sometimes he is not. My dad does not ask to be repaid. Repayment is to come in the form of someday remembering this, and if circumstances permit, the person is to do the same thing for someone else. He has done this for my boyfriend, Adam. Adam was raised by a single mother, working minimum wage. While she did a fine job with her limited resources, he needed a strong father figure in his life to show him his good qualities as well as bad qualities, and how to work on them. My dad tries to show a different, more positive way of doing things and tries to help him see all that he can achieve. Repayment of money is easy. Repayment of time, caring,
and commitment is the hard part.
In 1980, we moved into a typical middle-class neighborhood, planning to move on to bigger and grander things later on. During that time, we discovered the true meaning of the word neighborhood. It was not just people coming home from work and going into their garages and never speaking to their neighbors. It was people who knew each other and each other's children. They cared about people and their neighborhood. When I would ride my bike around the block and fall and skin my knee, someone would always patch me up, send me on my way and call my mom. When my sister and I rode our bikes right into the path of a car, the lady cared enough to get out of her car, scream at us and call our mom. Over the past fourteen years, one-hundred fifty families have worked to keep our neighborhood safe and clean. They have helped each other in need, and shared the joys as well as their grief. It has taught me the true meaning of the word "home" and helped me to realize that when my time comes, my own neighborhood will require my help and responsibility.
Both my parents work, so it has fallen upon my younger sister and I to assume responsibility for ourselves. I make sure that my sister gets to the places she is supposed to go. We both share the responsibility of us getting to appointments and activities. By being where we are supposed to be, doing what we are supposed to be doing, when we are supposed to be doing it, frees my parents from worrying about us. It allows my family to spend time together having fun rather than fighting.
Responsibility begins at home. If you are taught the value of it early, you see how it grows. By taking care of yourself, your family and your
immediate surroundings, recognizing your debt to society and your responsibilities to those less fortunate, you can find the true meaning of success.
"To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent and affection of children; to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate beauty, to find the best in others; to leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition; to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded." Ralph Waldo Emerson
Though these organizations and programs are able to help us in rebuilding our families, they are only a temporary relief to the real problem. There is another solution, but it is so simple that it seems hardly believable. It requires no government funding or law making. The solution is in the home. Parents and children alike must be willing to work to knit a closer relationship with one another. Finding activities that involve everyone, being with one another, and learning more about each other builds self esteem, awareness of evils around them, and how to cope, and empathy for rights and feelings of others. In my own family we have a family night every Monday. No one is to make other plans for that night and we spend it playing games, helping out others, and learning how to help ourselves. We each have assignments to fill like leading everyone in a song, telling a story, or teaching some sort of lesson. This has given each person in our family a way to escape the pressures and moral decay of the outside world.