Medicine Lodge High School
Medicine Lodge, Kansas

Teachers: Devra Parker and Mike Hubka

 

For the Right Reasons

By Leslie Jo Lukens

12th Grade

 

 

 

When Ryan’s government teacher asked for volunteers, he decided to donate his time to the local blood drive.  He could not help but think of how good it would look on a college application.  Ryan had no doubt that everything would work out for his benefit.  He would get the hours that he needed for his resume and appear to be a strong role model within his community.  The day of his scheduled work, Ryan went to the blood drive with reluctance.  The time crept by slowly as Ryan glanced at the clock at least thirty times.  Without a second thought, Ryan left the blood drive three hours before his scheduled shift was over.  When the time came for him to fill out an application, he lied about his time involved as a volunteer without even caring.

           

In the same community as Ryan, a well-known businessman cheated in a similar way.  When it came down to tax season, the man donated his clothing, priced ridiculously high, to a non-profit organization.  At the same time, this executive donated a small portion of his money to a local charity.  He didn’t give the clothes and money to help the people in need; he donated in order to pay less money in taxes.  This man deceived both the government and the agencies that are meant to help the needy.  He managed to look like a model citizen in his community, and he received a decent tax break.

           

Every year these very same situations occur throughout the United States of America.  Whether we realize it or not, they happen within each of our hometowns.  Organizations in both small and large communities are abused.  Many people take large amounts of clothing and goods to the local Salvation Army bins.  They are not doing this to better the lives of the poor and needy; they are donating in order to pat their own backs as a reward to finding yet another tax break.  This, along with others, is an act of pure selfishness.  What can we, the citizens of a great nation and even better communities, do to stop people from volunteering their time and money for the wrong reasons?

           

It is an excellent incentive to have monetary donations to nonprofit organizations be tax deductible.  But what if they weren’t?  Would there still be donations?  I seriously doubt that there would be nearly as many charitable donations given by the wealthy if there were not some reward.  Therefore, eliminating the compensations for donating is not the answer to resolving the donation and volunteer abuse.

 

The answer possibly lies behind a great amount of advertising.  If people were to see what a positive effect donations leave on their community, I think they would be more apt to donate for the right reasons.  The right reasons are those that do not bring personal glory or reward to oneself.  When people within a community drop a check into the offering tray at church because the person next to them is watching, they are displaying the wrong reasons to donate.  They should actually be giving money to their church to glorify God and help the church to grow.

 

Donating money to a good cause should be a wonderful feeling, not a feeling of regret.  The donator should be happy and feel proud inside for helping out the less fortunate.  If communities would come together and advertise what a wonderful idea it is to donate money, then possibly more and more families would give just to have a good feeling for their inner selves.  For example, if the American Heart Association were to show monetary research statistics, they would reveal how donations from healthy citizens have given way to such a vast amount of research.  This research has in turn saved numerous lives. Thus, people would be more willing to donate to a good cause.

 

Teenagers that volunteer their services to worthwhile causes are excelling in their communities.  Not all teens are providing their services for the right reasons, but that can be fixed.  With the help of the school staff and peers, volunteer service could become a new fad.  If one person within a school were to do community service for the right reason, there is little doubt that there would be a chain reaction.  That is just the way it is in most high schools.  If one person does something “cool,” he/she tells everyone else about it, and it is then that the rest of the student body gets involved.  Take, for example, clothes that are worn; when one person wears a new style first, the rest of the school eventually joins in.  Before long, that style is incredibly popular.  Wouldn’t it be amazing if one person took advantage of volunteer work and, in return, turned the rest of the school on to it?  I believe it can happen; all it takes is one. 

 

With the annual Christmas season , many organizations are in need of volunteers and donations.  If leaders within the community and student body leaders would take the initiative to begin new projects, it would be an amazing holiday season for those less fortunate.  The people that provided their services and money would feel good inside, and their season would also be more cheerful.  Volunteering is such a superb service to one’s community, but doing it from the heart makes it even more rewarding.  Imagine what a big difference it would make if people did such wonderful services for the right reasons. 

 

Answers To Questions

 

Q1.      The United States of America looks at and invests in marriage very differently than they do in Manus.  The United States views marriage more loosely than the citizens of Manus.  Cohabitation has become very common in the United States as a “test” to evaluate whether or not the marriage will work. In Manus, it is not traditional to live with a spouse previous to the marriage ceremony.  The population of Manus often invest in marriages as an incentive to make them last; men with numerous divorces are not excepted as well.  Divorce has almost became prominent in the US.  It is common for couples to give up on the marriage without even trying, causing many people in the United States to be married several times.  These are only a few of the differences on how marriage is viewed in different cultures.

 

Q2.      In all of the interviews that I conducted, I learned that marriage is not easy.  The most common replies given to ensure a long and happy marriage was strong communication.  My interviews went as follows.

*  Married twice; widowed in the first marriage.  Six years in current marriage.

    Advice given:  “Marriage isn’t easy, and communication is the key.”

*  One marriage, 20 years. 

    Advice given:  “Know your partner on the inside, don’t marry for physical reasons and

    truly fall in love before making any commitments.”

*  Married once for 29 years. 

    Advice given:  “Don’t try to change one another.”

*  Married once for 36 years; widowed. 

   Advice given:  “Always communicate, and do not go to bed mad at each other.”

*  One marriage, 25 years. 

    Advice given:  “Communication is … important and spend all spare time together.”                 

*  One 18 year marriage. 

    Advice given:  “Have lots of patience with each other.”

*  Married once for 29 years. 

    Advice given:  “Marriage takes a great deal of work, communicate constantly and 

    Never go to sleep angry.”

*  One marriage, 23 years.

    Advice given:  “The key is trust and understanding for your partner’s feelings.”

*  Twenty-three years in one marriage.

    Advice given:  “Don’t take life too seriously; enjoy the time that you share together.” 

* Married once for 16 years.

   Advice given:  “Don’t take your spouse for granted and try extremely hard to make

   things work.”

 

As written above, the individuals that I have interviewed are involved in long-lasting marriages.  The advice that they gave was relatively repetitive.  This shows that in all marriages the same things are needed to make them successful.

 

Q3.      Eckersley believes the collective goal of all people should be to reduce the material “progress” that we, as a whole, have made.  He states that people today only view their lives as getting better if there is more money involved.  The relationship that lies among wealth, health and well-being is not clearly defined, when in reality it should be clearly cut.  As a collective goal we need to ensure that the quality of life continues to grow for the better.  Currently, economic growth and power hungry people are causing the conditions of different people’s lives to decrease steadily.  As economic wealth grows, the environmental conditions worsen causing health problems for people of all ages.  People do not realize that money and wealth do not lead to happiness; most often, they lead to depression or selfishness.  In conclusion, I agree with Eckersley that the population, as a whole, needs to work on reducing their obsession with wealth and material things in order to enjoy a happier and healthier lifestyle.

 

Q4.      Although my community is extremely small, goals can be met with the cooperation of all citizens.  If I were the one to be setting the goals, I would set small goals that would eventually lead to the accomplishment of one large objective.  Our small town needs more active involvement and community pride; therefore, my goals would be based around this.  In order to accomplish this, more community activities need to be planned.  In the beginning, something would have to entice the citizens to come out and support these activities.  This could be accomplished by holding a raffle, a community luncheon, or a festival.  After people get involved with this, more and more activities need to be held causing the same people, and others, to become involved.  All of these events lead up to the next one causing more and more involvement.  This will cause the citizens to be proud of their small community and want to be active with organizing the next social function.

 

Q5.      Tomorrow’s Child basically says that there is too much advancement in the toys that today’s children play with.  Toys are substituting in for parents, which is not a good thing.  It also discusses that children are being taught that they have to do whatever it takes, good or bad, to succeed.  It states that within the next century whites may be outnumbered, or at least equaled, by today’s minorities.  That is the kind of world that tomorrow’s children are going to have to live with—technology that is too advanced, a world that is too competitive, and a population so diverse that no one particular group is the majority.

 

Q6.      Lawyers in the United States are particularly helpful in keeping our government democratic.  “[Lawyers] … protect us from the danger of tyranny of the majority.”  Americans seem to be distrustful of our own government; that is one of the reasons why lawyers come into such high play in the US.  Lawyers within our nation take on many cases that, in other countries, would be handled by the government or civil services.  The United States is known world-round for its diversity; not only in race, but also national origin, religious preference and sex.  This much diversity in one nation brings about conflict.  That is where the law comes into play; lawyers step in and fight for the rights of their clients in order to please the people.  The United States is also one of the wealthiest nations of the world.  Most Americans can easily provide the basic necessities for themselves, and then they spend their money on modern luxuries.  The luxuries include clean air and access to healthcare.  When Americans do not believe others are working along with them to reach their goal, they turn to lawyers.  The size of the United States of America causes a large need for lawyers.  With the US being such a vast nation, the people believe in a variety of different customs.  The large businesses believe differently than the owner of a small shop on Main Street in “Small Town, America.”  The lawyers come into the picture when economics are discussed.  They are in it to save you, the businessman, money; they also deal with angry customers threatening to sue.  If that actually occurs, the lawyers are they to defend you and get you out of the rut.  So, the United States is a nation fairly knowledgeable of the law; the population turns to lawyers in a vast amount of cases.

 

Q7.      I would prefer punitive damages to regulations.  Punitive damages only affect one person, therefore that person can take care of what they  need.  Regulations affect a large amount of people, and that can cause conflict.  When people have not been involved but they are still affected by the outcome, they seem to become angry.  Therefore, punitive damages is the better way to go.  I really do not think that an alternative would be any more successful than punitive damages.  It is the best route to take because it takes the least amount of people. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Q8.      Baby Boomers of the twenty-first century will retire soon in the upcoming year 2001.  Chances are that these young and very well educated adults will not just stay at home.  Early retirement programs are allowing these 76 million baby boomers to retire early when they are still healthy and very active.  Most of these mature adults will want to challenge there minds and start a personal business.  These new businesses will provide many jobs for the people of Generation X.  Though people in general  are retiring early, there are still some that wish to work until the age of 80 or 90.  Those who retire later, are also providing job opportunities; these opportunities are for teenagers.  The older generation are doing so just by retiring and staying at home.  Those who stay at home need assistance to do tasks that they are unable to perform.  This allows teens to become entrepreneurs for those in need of assistance.  Services are also set up to help fulfill the needs of elderly people, and some of these services are set up by people who have already retired.

 

Q9.      My conclusion of president Clinton’s anti-hunger policy is that it is likely to help poverty stricken countries, but will not end poverty all together.  It is stated in the given information that there are unquestionable market failures to correct, but the administration claims that the policies are now more fundamentally better than in the past.  Also stated, is that almost four million people have lifted themselves above poverty, but poverty is still a severe problem in America.Clinton believes that if we do not do it now it will never get done, and I agree.  I feel the economy is stable enough to handle the responsibilities of the poor people, but is society ready for such a heavy change? I think that is a question Bill Clinton should think about before presenting all this new information to Americans.  Making new companies for those unemployed would be a strong start for such a long and hard battle against hunger and poverty.  I hope that the president keeps up the fight.

 

Q10.    Both Cathy and Lewis have goals to help children who were born into unfit lifestyles.  Lewis set up a center were children can attend after school.  The center was set up to help kids learn and achieve goals in school.  Cathy, as well, started a center called the WinShape Homes.  It is a home on campus that provides a home-like atmosphere to twelve young promising students.  Cathy also gives out thousands of dollars in scholarships to children that have had an unfortunate life.  When Lewis first thought of this idea it was turned down by many people just like Cathy’s chicken sandwich.  Once written in a newspaper, it said that Cathy’s good work was all thanks to the little chicken fillet sandwich he invented.

 

 

 

            Sullivan, Kathleen.  “The Good that Lawyers Do.”  Before the Commonwealth Club in San

 

                        Francisco:  9 June 1999.

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