Shanel Daigger Joliet, Illinois

Life As I See It

by Shanel Daigger

Grade 11

There is much that we can do to improve our communities. Reducing taxes and getting people involved are ways to help. Our communities have become so distant with each other, that they have become scary and unfair places. The government’s job is to help the community people get involved. There are many lazy people who don’t care about improving their communities, but if more people were to help the government and give ideas, maybe the community would become a better place to live. There are so many things that need to be done to help the community. Adults and adolescents need to take responsibility in trying to improve our communities today. It takes work and determination to keep a community together. If parents take on community responsibilities, I as a youth will follow their footsteps to make my generation’s communities more livable.

Communities are sometimes judged by color and money. In most cities, the rich live on one side and the poor on the other. Black on one side and white on the other. It is hard to live in these communities because people are stressed and angry. The government made all cultures go to school with one another. Why then are communities stilled stressed and angry? We are put together because the government wants everyone to be together no matter what are incomes are. This system isn’t working or helping our communities get along better. It is pulling our communities apart. Writing a letter to our Governor with these ideas could really help our communities.

Young children don’t understand how money makes people different. When the parents speak to them of the wrongs about their communities, this reflects on the children making them judge fellow classmates. As the young children get older, they judge more which makes them more angry and stressed at their family and friends. Talking to my siblings could help them understand that money shouldn’t make a difference.

The elderly have money problems also. Most of the elderly came to the United States from a foreign country. Their goal was to work hard and become United States citizens. They would work many jobs to live in their communities. They learned how to speak English also. It was hard but this is what they wanted for themselves and their families. They never asked the government for help. They would get help from their fellow neighbors in their communities. If someone were to come to the United States form a foreign country they could get help immediately from the welfare department. They don’t need to learn English to get a job or state aid. Taxes are raised by letting in so many foreigners. We need to help the people living as U.S. citizens first. Helping our own would make the numbers smaller standing in the welfare lines. Our tax money would go farther. Taxes are a big deal to the community. They help by paying the government people their wages and helping the less fortunate live their lives. These things need to be helped to better our communities but taxes are coming out of the people who don’t really need help. We pay taxes on everything food, clothing, bills, etc. Taxes are making the people who don’t need help poor because we pay too much on taxes. Taxes are a good thing to have but they need to cut back on how much they take from the people. People work hard to earn money. The money taken from the people who work is going to the people who can’t work or need help to get by. Government officials are also getting this tax money. Presidents, senators, and governors make too much money. They should take a cut in pay and maybe there would be more money to help the less fortunate. The government does help our communities in come ways, but taking huge amounts of money from people is not really improving the community.

There are many things individuals can do to help reduce taxes. Such things could be to have more volunteers in the community. If more people volunteered, their would be more money going to the schools and less fortunate in the communities. The volunteers would work out of the goodness of their hearts. The volunteers could be the less fortunate or the people who want to help the community. The people on welfare should also be the ones to volunteer to help their communities. If they volunteer, they may help their communities become a safer and a better place to live. By helping, this will maybe influence them to go out and get a job plus still volunteer their time. Some of the money saved maybe used for the important things.This idea will save a lot of money to help the communities. I could help the taxes be reduced by volunteering my time. I could help by tutoring or going to shelters and pass out food. Money has gone way out of control. It takes a great deal of money to live in this world today. Things cost much more now than they have in the past. I’m sure when I decide to purchase a house, I will not be able to afford one. If I do buy a house, then I will not be able to pay for my property taxes. Then I will not be able to buy food because groceries and the taxes added on will cost too much. Taxes for other things such as clothes, car payments and gas will also be too extreme. These are many reasons why the communities need to try to reduce taxes. My generation will be so overwhelmed in what we have to pay for we will never want to leave our families. If taxes keep rising, I guess I’ll need help from the government. If that’s the way it will be I’ll need all the help I can from my parents.

Questions

1.) How does society invest in marriage in the USA and in Manus?

Society invests in marriage in the USA and in Manus by centering their investments about tried and enduring marriages. When they do this, they assume greater prestige and their stock goes up.

2.) Interview 10 married people. State the length and number of each person’s marriage and a line or two of advice from each on how to maintain a long, happy relationship.

19 years- St. marriage- Being with each other a lot.

19 years- 2nd marriage- Showing affection to one another.

13 years- 2nd marriage- Enjoying each others company.

13 years- 2nd marriage- Doing a lot of things together.

24 years- 1st marriage- Having the same things in common.

24 years- 1st marriage- Being with each other a lot.

4 years - 1st marriage- Having children together.

4 years - 1st marriage- Living together, being away from parents.

8 years - 1st marriage- Having things in common.

8 years- 1st marriage- enjoying each others company.

3.) According to Richard Eckersley, what should our collective goal be?

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

4.) Write a worthy goal for your community.

A goal for my community would be to have less gang related violence.

5.) Comment on the excerpts from “Tomorrow’s Child. ”

The mother in a doll form is a great idea because if the children do not have a real mother the doll will kind of be like a mother. Even though it won’t talk or do anything, the child can still love and hug it like it was a real person that loves him or her.

6.) How does the fact the USA is a democracy make lawyers particularly helpful, according to Kathleen Sullivan? How does our diversity, wealth and size make lawyers particularly helpful?

Democracy makes lawyers helpful because they create a form of public responsibility. Diversity makes lawyers helpful because we are a mixed society and we have more conflict and less agreement about social customs. Wealth makes lawyers helpful because the U.S. is very wealthy. When people start worrying about the environment and healthcare, they don’t ask what they can do but what the law can do. Size makes lawyers helpful because the U.S. is very big. We have many organizations that have multiple transactions among a multitude of individuals, we need lawyers to help solve these conflicts between these organizations. Lawyers help to achieve what the economists call economies of scale.

7.) Ms. Sullivan claims bad practices are changed either by regulations or punitive damages. Which do you prefer and why? Can you think of an alternative?

I prefer punitive damages because it the easiest things to do. Pay the plaintiff there money and forget about what happened. Half the time it is the persons fault, not the people they got something from. If you don’t use punitive damages the plaintiff and defendant will be in court for a long time. An alternative could be to pay the plaintiff and fixed what happened. Example: With the hot coffee spilled on the lady, pay the lady and then put on the glass very hot coffee! If something like this happens again just take the person to court and show the judge the cup. This shows the coffee was hot and to be careful when you drink it.

8.) Briefly describe the three ways society would benefit from coming retirement of baby boomers, according to the required reading.

The society could benefit from coming retirement of baby boomers by having the retired people start up their own business. The society will get more money if this happens. The retiree entrepreneurs will offer services to a large number of Generation’s X’ers who will be having families. If this happens, maybe when the Generation X’ers have this job, they may change their minds about having children. The elderly who stay home may provide opportunities for teenage entrepreneurs. If the teenagers who will have children go into a business, that means, many of the retirees won’t have to go to work and they will be able to stay home and enjoy their retirement.

9.) Evaluate the likelihood of President Clinton’s anti-poverty making a real impact. Give at least three reasons to back up your conclusions.

No, President Clinton’s anti-poverty isn’t making a real impact. This is so because every where you go you see the same thing, a lot of poor people. Even if Clinton does try to make things better, nothing is going to change. The government is not the only people who need to try to make a difference but also the people who are poor and not poor. When we try to make things better here, we find something wrong in another country. This should not be right, we need to help ourselves first before we try to help someone else. The U.S. is the dominate country, we need to make ourselves look better first and maybe the other countries will follow.

10.) Name three things Truett Cathy and Tom Lewis have in common.

They both want to help children who come from unfortunate circumstances make something of themselves. They both believe education improves people and broadens their horizons. They both started their business after they finished their first job. Truett Cathy lost his job and Tom Lewis retired from his job.