Kecoughtan High School

Hampton, Virgina

Teacher: Emma Flood

 

                                                                                                        

Responsibility

By Bryan Gallant

 

Responsibility in the community, when mentioned to youth, will return vacant stares and sarcastic remarks. When mentioned to the average citizen, they defer responsibility to elected officials. Elected officials will accept responsibility for improvements, actual or mythical, but lay responsibility for failure on political opponents. So, who is responsible for improving the quality of life in the community? The individual alone is responsible.

 

The…youth of the community play an important economic role. They accept menial and low paying jobs which while vital, are not eagerly sought by adults. An important new development in youth employment has been the rise of technology, which often alienates adults, who are more willing to pay a youth to deal with the computer than to learn how to use it. The future of business is the exchange of information, the youth have the information and the adults and professionals are forced to turn to them. What does this have to do with responsibility? The responsibility of youth in the community is becoming more important as their economic position improves. Money brings power and influence, and the combination of those qualities with education leads to social change. Education is on the rise with many more youth completing at least some college, and while at college acquiring ideas, which is dangerous for the status quo. The responsibility of youth…in improving the quality of life in the community is to [act as a catalyst for] social change. Examples of the spearheading social activity of youth include the groups of college students registering black voters in Mississippi during the 60s and the anti-WTO demonstrators in Seattle in the 90s.

 

The backbone of the youth is the adults. From the beginnings of social power in high school through the pinnacle of activism in college, the youth stand upon the shoulders of the adults. The defeated veterans of activism, the adults are entrenched in their routines, which consist of the activities necessary to provide for themselves and the youth. The adults are rarely the advocates of social change because its importance is negligible when compared to necessities. However, the stability of the adult position is required to support the activities of the youth, without which the youth would be forced to take up the role of pseudo-adults trying to survive and provide for themselves. Adults pool their resources in large organizations, such as AARP and the AFL-CIO, which use their clout to champion the ideas the youth spearhead, while they [adults] defend the interests of the adults. The responsibility of the adult in improving the quality of life is to provide an essential solid base from which the youth can operate.

 

The industry [comprised of] large corporations, also plays an important role in improving the quality of life in the community. It acts as a medium between the people and the government as well as a foil to the more radical ideas of the youth. The modern corporation is a living being, in and of itself, and [the government] recognizes [it] in nearly the same way as [it recognizes] a very affluent citizen. The link between the people and the government is formed because the corporation uses its individual power, or in the combined might of a corporate alliance, as a focused tool to defend the interests of its shareholders. This detached form of defending the right of the people is important in limiting the amount of influence that the people have in areas that they may not fully understand to prevent hasty and improper changes, overall it is similar to the original role intended of the electoral college. The responsibility of industry in community betterment is twofold; to advocate on behalf of the people and defend the government from sweeping misinformed changes.

 

The power to which the youth appeal is the leaders of the community, elected and unofficial alike. The youth have only the power to incite change. The adults have only the power to support the incitement of change. The actual power to change the quality of life lies with the leaders. The leader can be influenced by the opinions of the youth and the adult, and his or her fear of lost votes, but actually operates at his or her discretion. The leader is constantly bombarded by conflicting values of different activists groups and his or her own peers. The leader’s position is defined by being responsible for deciding what values need to be enforced and what changes, if any, need to be made. The elected official is supposed to make decisions based upon the views of his/her constituents, however the constituents have varying and often-conflicting views. The conflict of interests often lead the official depending on the herd mentality of political parties to make the decision for him/her. This thwarts efforts to improve the quality of life in the community because [it] defies the interests of the constituents. The responsibility of the leader in improving the quality of life is that of actually changing the rules and/or practices of the community to the benefit of his/her constituents.

 

The quality of life in the community is defined by the various groups, which contribute to it. The importance of the groups is easy to recognize in their individual roles. However, each group is composed of active individuals. These individuals are the true force behind community betterment. It is the responsibility of the individual to improve the community by taking an active role in their respective group. In spite of the power of the masses, the acti[ve] individual is the only way to bring about social change.