Making A Difference

By Jennifer Burkhardt

Grade 10

Lots of things could be done to improve the quality of life in community today. Many of those things need to be done anyway. Drug use, crime and poverty are a few very important things that need to be taken care of. There are many people today that would like to help; they just aren’t sure how. Young people in particular have a hard time deciding how to take those first steps. It may be that they are just not sure what they want to do. They may have a worthy cause that needs help, but they don’t know how to go about getting involved. Some people are concerned about what their friends will think. Regardless the reason more people need to stand up for what they believe in. There are many ways a person can help improve things in their community. More people need to stop just complaining about what is wrong and do something about it. There are many organizations that can help make good starting points.

Little things sometimes can be just as helpful as larger things. If a person is walking down the street looking sad and someone says hi to them it could make a big difference. Their whole day could be turned around. Something as simple as just saying hi can make a big difference. If a friend is going through a bad time, just being there for them to talk to can be one of the best things for them. Sending someone flowers for no special reason can be wonderful. Sometimes it doesn’t take much to make a person’s day just a little brighter.

Some people find a certain cause they want to help. That is great, but sometimes requires a lot more work than one would think. If your grandmother died from cancer, wouldn’t you want to help find a cure so others wouldn’t suffer? If your dog ran away and was killed at an animal shelter, wouldn’t you want to do something to save other pets? What would you do if your mom was in the hospital dying and she needed an organ transplant to live? Someone would have to die to give her a second chance. Would you then go and spread the word about organ donation? What would you do if your parents lost their jobs and couldn’t pay the bills anymore? Where would you sleep? What would you eat? Where would you get clothes? These questions are on the minds of many people; they want to know what they can do to help.

There are lots of things you can do to help. You could raise money to help find a cure for cancer. You could organize a canned food drive or a clothes drive to help they homeless. You could volunteer at an animal shelter to help the animals. You could become an organ donor yourself and make sure your family knows about your decision. You could also stress to all your friends and family how important organ donation can be. There are thousands of things you can do to help save lives and improve the community you live in.

Crime and drug use seem to be a rise lately. Older people might become a big brother or sister to a child at risk for these things. Just spending time with a child can make a big difference. Being a good role model and giving a child the attention it needs could be the turning point in that child’s life. Just talking with children about drugs and other topics is very important. Using drugs can screw up anyone’s life. If you know someone that has a problem with drug use, you should try to get him or her help. Even if you lose that person as a friend you may save his or her life.

So many things need improving in this day and time. If you do nothing else, just bettering yourself can make a difference. If everyone would come together and stop fighting, we could make our communities mush better places. Everyone has the potential to make improvements in his own life and the lives of many others. It may be by becoming a doctor and saving thousands of lives. It may be becoming a teacher and educating the kids of the future. It may be taking in homeless animals or feeding homeless people - maybe becoming a police officer and helping stop criminals. Whatever it may be, you just take your God-given talents, interests and available resources into consideration. Then you will know what is important to you and what to do.

Answers to Questions Regarding The Required Reading

1. Today society doesn’t take marriage as seriously as before. More and more people are just living together, and now that is very acceptable in the USA. In Manus marriage is more of a business exchange between families, it has nothing to do with love.

2. Person 1: Married twice. 1 year and 16 years. “Communication is the most important thing in any relationship.”

Person 2: Married once. 29 years. “You have to have a good sense of humor and follow the golden rule: treat others as you want them to treat you.”

Person 3: Married once. 33 years. “You have to have good communication.”

Person 4: Married once. 17 years. “You have to be able to compromise.”

Person 5: Married twice. 1 year and 13 years. “You have to listen to each other and talk through problems.”

Person 6: Married once. 9 years. “You have to have love and you must compromise.”

Person 7: Married once. 12 years. “You must have communication and don’t keep secrets.”

Person 8: Married once. 22 years. “Remember that divorce is expensive.”

Person 9: Married twice. 6 years and 9 years. “Communication.”

Person 10: Married once. 7 years. “Be the best friend of the person.”

3. How we choose to live affects the world. There is no escaping that so we should choose to live to change the world.

4. I would lie to see the community offer more help to young people. I think we need a community center that actually offers things for children to do. I believe that if kids and teens had a safe place to go it would help solve other problems. That way maybe they wouldn’t start using drugs and doing bad things. It would just be really nice to have a place to go to play with other kids, get help with homework and other things like that.

5. I think that the issues raised in “Tomorrow’s Child” make really good points. I believe that as long as you have a loving, supportive family the other things don’t matter. Like whether or not a parent is home after school or the family eats dinner together every night. If everyone is aware of the things going on with the other family members and there is good communication, things should work out.

6. The majority could run over the rights of an individual.

7. Some things are just so stupid and immature. I think people should be able to compromise and settle most of their problems out of court.

8. We would greatly benefit from baby boomers retiring. More jobs would be open for other members of society.

9. I think it might benefit a certain group of people. Some people just won’t agree with him. Some people won’t want help. Some people won’t work. There are a lot of people living in poverty. It’s going to take a lot of hard work and the right people working on it to make a real impact.

10. They worked hard.

They like kids and wanted to help them.

They helped kids.