Luck High School
Luck, Wisconsin
Teacher: Barbara Peterson
The Responsibilities In A Community
By Angela Pouliot
I think that people are important in this world; they play a big part in a community every day in order for it to function. It helps a lot for everyone to be in a good mood. We don’t necessarily need to be a happy-go-lucky person but also not a totally depressed person either. Actually, I suppose it doesn’t matter what kind of person they are as long as they are playing their part in the community. We need to have an open mind, don’t judge people right away. That person could have been your soul mate for life or your best friend! Treat everyone equally; girls should have the same rights as boys. The same is true with the disabled. If we really think about it, boys and girls are the same. They are just made a little different If we really think about this whole white superiority, whites weren’t here first, the Indians were! They traded with whites and showed them how to live off the land.
The younger generation nowadays has nothing to do! They just sit at home and play on the computer, play on the Nintendo, or watch television. Either they are at home doing one of the gadgets mentioned above, or they are out on the streets getting into trouble. We need to let them help clean up what they have done wrong. For an example, the other day I was watching a television show, and there were these teens painting murals on the walls that had graffiti on them. They didn’t get paid; they did it out of the goodness of their hearts.
We need to get the younger, middle and older generations together to get to know each other instead of being intimidated by each other. How can we have a community if no one wants to work together…?
As a community, we could build and start a program involving the generations. We could find something that they all have in common. We could have some type of recreational center having an arcade, pool tables, weight room, tennis and basketball courts, a pool, hockey rink, ice-skating rink, a place to roller blade, skateboard, play soccer and football. It could be a cross between a recreational center and an amusement park or a combination of both. The youth could have fun being young and living. The middle generation could just have fun getting away from the work place and having time to relax. The old could live again and be young and feel more alive.
We all need to help everyone feel important in order for our community to stick together. Once one person doesn’t feel important, then it is no longer a community. If [community members are] down, help them up! If they have accomplished a great task, reward them! Be proud, and show it! If they do wrong, help them to correct [their mistakes.]
If the town policeman, the school principal, our parents, teachers, mayor, grandparents—[if none of them] played their part in the community, what would we have? We would have chaos and corruption. Even the football team’s big quarterback plays a role. He is expected to take care of the ball and help out in getting touchdowns. If he doesn’t live up to those expectations, don’t be disappointed. Let him know what he did right, at least! The town drunk could also have a role in the community, to make us laugh and to show us that the town policeman is getting his job down!
We should all lend a helping hand when needed. For instance when an elderly person is not able to perform a task, someone of the younger generation could help out. A lot of [members of the] younger… and older generations already help out by baby-sitting for the middle generation when they need to have a moment by themselves.
We are already trying to make our community work, but it will take a lot of effort and hard work. It will be a long process. It’s not something that can happen just like that over night!
I think that everyone should try hard to be a good person. If we don’t like something, change it to a way that we will like it. Do it in a way that it doesn’t interfere with someone else’s feelings or beliefs.