Hyndman High School
Hyndman, Pennsylvania
Teacher: Janet Phillips

 

 

 

Our Communities’ Youth

By Kara Hosselrode

11th Grade

 

 

 

America’s youth seems to be getting out of hand.  Every time people read the newspaper they will most likely read about a teen getting arrested or hear about the many types of vandalism throughout cities and towns.  To improve our community, we need to find ways to keep teens and children off the street.

           

Youth centers are an excellent idea.  These centers can be a place for teens to go when they need to get away.  Instead of heading to the street corner or the “popular” spot in town, they will head to a place where they will feel safe.  Youth centers may have many types of games, movies, counselors, and food or snack items.  I believe that if youth centers are given a chance, there could be many changes, not only in the community, but changes in the people.

           

Community sports teams provide teens with beneficial activities. Instead of doing drugs, they will be concentrating on getting better at a sport they love.  Team activities also help troubled teens to know that they are not alone.  Sometimes family life can be tough.  A child or teen often feels alone or abandoned; with team activities a student gets to be around other people and to know that he or she is not alone.

           

A student can also get help on-line.  There is a site that is called “Hey Terra”.  At this site anybody can ask personal questions without even mentioning his or her name.  The site deals with anything from drugs to your love life.  Students write in, explaining what is bothering them, whether they are suffering from abuse or their parents are getting divorced.  Terra reads each one of these entries and responds with a way for them to handle it.  Anyone can go in there and read these problems with their solutions written after.  No names are mentioned only little nick-names like “troubled,” or “unhappy.”  With the use of a computer, students can go on-line and have someone whom to tell their problems. They don’t even have to use their name. 

           

The web site “Beyond Labels” is also a very good place to go for some inspiration.  This site interviews real people with real disabilities or problems.  In one particular situation, a young woman was interviewed who had a neuromuscular disease that affected her motor and and speech skills. This young woman graduated from St. Mary’s College.  She now has a Bachelor’s of Science in Child Psychology, and was the first person in a wheelchair to graduate from St. Mary’s.  Most people do not know or understand; because of this they end up hurting instead of helping.  Nobody knows exactly what anyone else is going through.  No one can say, “Well, I know how you feel because I have been there.”  Nobody can walk in anyone else’s shoes, so to speak.  Really we’ve all got to work together and give what we can and not set any limitations on anybody.  Just let everybody do what he or she is capable of doing.

           

When reading these real life stories, teens can see how people in similar situation cope with their problems.  A teen’s life can be very tough and stressful.  Sometimes they try to find ways to make the pain they are feeling go away by using drugs, joining gangs, or they may even try suicide.  There are people who want to help.  I believe that to make a difference everybody needs to become more willing to listen.  People are sometimes too worried about what others will think.  They are so involved in their own self image that when they try to help, they end up hurting the victim even more.  By combing the people who want to make a difference, and not wondering what other people are thinking or saying about us, we can save hundreds of the teens that commit suicide everyday.

           

Most young people think that because they are still in high school or do not have a degree in psychology, they can not help their friends.  The truth is, a friend can do a lot for a person in need.  In most cases, emotions have to be let out. If they are not, and are kept locked inside, depression could be the result.  Signs of depression may include,  fatigue, loss of appetite, thoughts of suicide, and the want to be alone.  If anybody you know has had of these symptoms, please talk to them and try to get them to the doctor.  Depression isn’t something that anyone can get rid of overnight.  Medications and therapy are required. It may even take years and years before there is a full recovery. 

           

I can say this because my mother has suffered from depression for almost six years.  I can also tell you that the disease is very rough on the family.  We have spent days at hospitals and hundreds of dollars on doctor and prescription bills.  Last year my mother had an emotional shut-down.  She passed out and was unconscious for nearly twelve hours.  Lately, things are getting better, but that is only because we took the time to listen and we showed that we cared.

           

From what I have experienced in my life, I believe that we need to start with America’s future if we want to make a difference.

 

Answers To Questions Regarding Required Reading

 

Q1-In the USA people are new just living together.  Marriage is now slowly becoming a thing of the past.  In Manus, people invest in marriage much like they would invest in the stock market. Betrothals are made for different prices and then depending on how well the marriage goes, their investment either goes up or down.

 

Q2-All ten married people said that communication in the key to a strong and happy relationship.  The range of the marriages was from 16 months to 25 years.

 

Q3-Our goal should be to dematerialize society without reducing quality of life.

 

Q4-I think that a youth center should be established in our town to help keep the teens off the street.  The center would provide a place for teens to go just to have a good time.  I believe that this would be a big help in preventing vandalism.

 

Q5-(page 54)I think that the idea of a “mother doll” is a fairly good idea.  I just wish that more motherless children would find the help of a real person instead of a doll.  If the child is really in search of human connection, I don’t think a doll will be what they are looking for.

(page 56)Americans are becoming selfish.  I believe that if we all would just give a little instead of taking so much our children’s future would look much more brighter.

 

Q6- Lawyers protect our individualism.  They create a form of public responsibility and accountability that wouldn’t happen in a new democracy.

The fact that we have so many different races in the United States there seems to be more conflicts and less agreement about social customs, and the law helps to solve the problems that arise because of this.

 

Q7-I prefer punitive damages because if someone was to regulate everything that didn’t seem fit, everybody’s lives would be based on nothing besides these regulations.

 

Q8-The retirement of the “baby boomers” will provide more jobs for the Generation X’ers.  The cost of elder care facilities would be offset by increased productivity and lower absenteeism.  The elderly who stay home may provide opportunities for teenage entrepreneurs.

 

Q9-I think that it is unlikely that President Clinton’s anti-poverty program is going to have a large impact.  The banks seem to be reluctant when business owners ask for loans to expand their companies.  35% of former welfare recipients can not perform simple tasks, such as using a calculator and finding a place on a street map.   Many companies may have problems finding them poor unemployed useful in a new labor pool.

 

Q10-Truett Cathy and Tom Lewis both relied on God as their strength, both provide children with education opportunities, and both have a dream to help children make the most of what life has to offer.