1997-1998 Harry Singer Foundation National Essay Contest

Responsibility: Who Has It, Who Doesn't, And What That Means To The Nation 

Centerville High School, Centerville, South Dakota
1st Josh Nelson       2nd Ryan Olson         3rd Derek Velasquez  3rd Ryan Evans

Definition
"My way of exercising responsibility is feeding my 16 sheep every morning and night, or showing up for my job at a nursing home on time and doing a good job. For another person, they may feel that their responsibility is to just be an overall good person and volunteer their time to a good cause. Unfortunately, there are people with no sense of the word responsibility. These people usually…lead a life full of self-centeredness, greed, laziness and other bad things which just leaves them an empty person."
Josh Nelson, Centerville High School, Centerville, South Dakota

"To me, the word responsibility means to do something without being asked and to do something for someone if they ask."
Derek Velasquez, Centerville High School, Centerville, South Dakota

"Responsibility to me means to do something because you should do it as an everyday duty. This includes taking credit for your actions, good or bad. People always take credit or responsibility for their good actions, but that isn't always true for bad actions. People sometimes try to put the blame on someone else, even [when] what happened was clearly their fault. I feel I have many responsibilities in my life and I am only seventeen. I feel I am responsible for my actions, not only because what I do affects how I look and feel, but what I do also affects the people around me. So if people would just look around them, they could see if their actions were responsible or not and how they affect other people. That is how I see responsibility."
Ryan Evans, Centerville High School, Centerville, South Dakota

"To me, responsibility is always doing what you need to do to get [it] done. For example, if you have a job, you should always go to it on time and do your work efficiently. You should always know for whatever you do, there will be consequences and you should take responsibility."
Mandy Austin, Centerville High School, Centerville, South Dakota

"When you are responsible, you are accountable for your acts, you are able to fulfill your obligations, and you are liable for what you do in all situations. When you act without responsibility, you feel that you can do whatever you want to do, no matter the consequences to yourself or to others. You do not think it is important to fulfill any obligations you might have. Everyone in society has some type of responsibility, whether it is towards parents, friends, teachers, co-workers, or others in the community. Students are responsible to get to school on time, complete their assignments, and to cooperate with their teachers, as well as show responsibility towards their parents and families. Adults in society should be accountable for their acts and fulfill their obligations towards family and job."
Brenda Stevens, Centerville High School, Centerville, South Dakota

"Responsibility means to meet a requirement set by someone or yourself. It also means to be accountable for something you have done. Many people will try to work around responsibility to save themselves from trouble. They need to admit when they are wrong so others do not get the blame."
John Westra, Centerville High School, Centerville, South Dakota

"Responsibility is the condition or fact of being responsible, an obligation, or an accountability. One definition for responsibility is 'a person or thing that is responsible for its own actions."
Phillip Eide, Centerville High School, Centerville, South Dakota

"Responsibility is the act of being responsible for something regardless if it is good or bad. Responsible people can take care of themselves and others."
Adam Buckneberg, Centerville High School, Centerville, South Dakota

"The denotative definition of responsibility is having charge or being accountable for something. I think the most fundamental form of responsibility, and from which all other moral actions will emanate, is self-responsibility. I think to be responsible and accountable for one's actions is the most difficult and, if accomplished, the most fulfilling thing a person can do in his life. It is at the very heart of human nature to have acceptance for a person's own behavior. A truly responsible person will own up to his mistakes and not attempt to place the burden on another."
Joe McCombs, Centerville High School, Centerville, South Dakota

"To be a responsible person, you have to know the difference between right and wrong and do the thing you feel is best. When you are responsible, people depend on you and you can't let them down."
Joe Ward, Centerville High School, Centerville, South Dakota

"My definition of responsibility is being able to take care of yourself and control all of your actions."
Matt Smith, Centerville High School, Centerville, South Dakota

"Responsibility, to me, is taking full credit for any situation where I am at fault, no matter how severe or petty the consequences may be."
Kristen Stevens, Centerville High School, Centerville, South Dakota

"What does responsibility mean to me? This word means having to work hard, getting trusted by others to do jobs, and it means being able to take charge in doing something on your own."
Tom Moore, Centerville High School, Centerville, South Dakota

"What the word responsibility means to me is looking after and taking care of your own actions. The Merriam Webster's Collegiate Dictionary defines responsibility as 'the quality or state of being liable to be called on to answer.' There are many different definitions to the word responsibility and I don't think that there is just one correct definition."
Connor Myers, Centerville High School, Centerville, South Dakota

"To me, responsibility means doing what you are supposed to and avoid doing what you know is wrong."
Darren Erickson, Centerville High School, Centerville, South Dakota

"Responsibility means several different things to me. Being responsible means that you will get your work done at home, at school, or on a job. It also means that you keep your promises and that people can count on you to be on time and to get the job done."
Adam Williamson, Centerville High School, Centerville, South Dakota

Common Sense
"Another act of irresponsibility occurred in New York City. A young mother of two had just lost her job and was short on money. She baked muffins and went around selling them in her neighborhood. While some people were buying them, a police office pulled up and asked her if she has a business permit. Of course, she didn't The police officer arrested her. She was released with a warning and told if she was caught again, she would have a fine to pay and 60 days in jail. There was no sympathy used in this situation, even though the mother was not hurting anyone and only trying to make a few dollars for her family.

Still [another] example of irresponsibility also occurred in New York City. Two elderly ladies used to make blankets and shawls for a local market near their apartment. The owner of the market would sell them and give the ladies the profit. When the authorities found out, they told the ladies to quit bringing the blankets and shawls to the market unless they were going to buy part of the business. In this case, the owner thought it was all right that the ladies brought things they made to his market and again, it wasn't hurting anyone."
Jessica Strand, Centerville High School, Centerville, South Dakota

Community
"In my town of Centerville, South Dakota, there is an outdoor activity area by the river that we call the beach. Over the past few years, the beach has been flooded by the river. When the beach floods, the soil erodes and trash is deposited everywhere. The various clubs and organizations in Centerville have teamed up to trim trees, pick up trash, mow the grass and put campsites in for campers. They are even going to put up playground equipment for the kids."
Josh Nelson, Centerville High School, Centerville, South Dakota

"We have a nursing home in our town and there are kids and grownups who come to the nursing home and play games with the residents. Some paint the residents' nails; some take the residents shopping for clothes or just for an outing. Then there are the piano recitals and children from Sunday schools that come and entertain the residents with their music. We have people who come just to talk to some of the residents. We even have some people who volunteer to scrape the hallway walls so they can be repainted! The residents really enjoy the people who volunteer.

We also have a food pantry in our town. The kids in the elementary grades bring canned food to the food pantry during the Christmas season. It is nice to have the food pantry in case any emergency would ever occur. We know that it would be there to help us if we needed it. It also helps those families in need of food who cannot afford the necessary items."
Jayme Wellenstein, Centerville High School, Centerville, South Dakota

"People are being responsible and kind-hearted by giving blood to a blood bank. By giving to a blood bank, many people benefit…People who give blood show they understand the responsibility of helping others in our world today."
Ryan Evans, Centerville High School, Centerville, South Dakota

Honesty
"A man in Minnesota bought a chair at a rummage sale and when he got it home, he found a 14-year-old wallet in the cushions that contained $500. Without even thinking twice [about] keeping the money, the man sent it back to the rightful owner's sister, since the owner had died two years previously. This is a perfect example of a man overcoming greed and taking responsibility for his actions and himself."
Josh Nelson, Centerville High School, Centerville, South Dakota

"Every day in our school, people witness cheating going on all of the time."
Joanna Johnke, Centerville High School, Centerville, South Dakota

"For example, you go into a local convenience store to buy a pack of bubble gum. The cashier, currently occupied, accidentally gives you too much change. You leave the store and get into your car, and decide to count your change to find that the cashier, indeed, did give you too much change. After you find the thoughtless mistake, do you return the money? Or, do you make the innocent cashier pay the balance out of their pocket. After all, it was not your mistake."
Kristen Stevens, Centerville High School, Centerville, South Dakota

Injustice
"A 21-year-old man who was drinking at a bar in Brandon, South Dakota… got drunk and the bar wouldn't let him drive home. One of the people who worked at the bar drove him home. As soon as the man got home, he started walking back to the bar so he could drive his pickup home. It was foggy out that night in February of 1998. The man set out from the bar in his pickup for home. At the same time, a 16-year-old girl was driving her car along with her 17-year-old boyfriend on their way to a basketball game at approximately 8:00 p.m. As the kids were driving eastbound on a nearby highway, they met the [drunken] man who was driving westbound on a bridge. As the 22-year-old approached the bridge, he was on the left side of the road creating a head-on collision. The two kids in the car were killed on the spot. The man driving the pickup was thrown out but received only minor injuries."
Connor Myers, Centerville High School, Centerville, South Dakota

Irresponsible Acts
"Another example of someone not taking responsibility was when Abner Louima was arrested outside of a nightclub in Brooklyn. He was taken to the Flatbush Station where he was sexually abused from one to four times by the policemen that arrested him. The police threw him in a waiting cell and prevented him from going on a waiting ambulance. The ambulance arrived at the station at 6:30 p.m. and was not able to leave until 8:00a.m. Thirteen officers were suspended or transferred because of the incident."
Ryan Olson, Centerville High School, Centerville, South Dakota

"In this world today, most people are responsible for their own actions, but there are some people who are not responsible. One example of irresponsibility happened when we took our horse to get it broken so it could be ridden…We took it to a man that came recommended by one of my dad's friends. The horse had been there for about a month so my dad decided to call the man and see how it was going. The man told dad it was fine and that the horse would be ready to go home in a week. Dad called him the next week and the man said it would take another week. This was repeated for about a month. At the end of the month, we went to get the horse because it was taking too long. When we got there and saw the horse, the man had starved it to the point where most of its bones were showing. He did not take the responsibility of feeding the horse while breaking it. To make matters worse, the horse still was not broken.

Another example of an irresponsible act is parents not taking care of their own children. My parents are foster parents. We see many children that are treated unfairly by their biological parents. Some of the parents of these children will beat or sexually abuse their children to the point where the children are scared of any human contact. There are other parents who don't abuse their children physically, but the child is left alone because the parent is in jail, the parent is recovering from drug abuse, or the parent is not financially stable.

A third example of an irresponsible act is the poaching of wild game. Poachers are a threat to organized hunting. Hunting is a good experience for people who like the outdoors, but if poachers keep taking game illegally, they will limit the game for hunters who have licenses. Poaching raises the price of licenses and limits the amount of licenses that are handed out."
John Westra, Centerville High School, Centerville, South Dakota

"Oprah Winfrey said that people should not eat beef because of Mad Cow disease. After she said this, the cattle prices dropped really low. This affected the cattlemen…All of a sudden, they couldn't even get the same value for their cattle. So I think that the irresponsibility falls on Oprah Winfrey's shoulders because Oprah Winfrey is not a cattle disease specialist and she shouldn't say things on national television that she doesn't know for sure."
Phillip Eide, Centerville High School, Centerville, South Dakota

"I live across the road from a bar and grill called the River Side Station. When a new owner came, he fixed the place up, inside and out. I thought it was a good thing. Then I found out that he was a drug dealer. He was selling his drugs across the street from my house. He got greedy and had his friend start the place on fire. The first time we called it in, the building was just smoke-damaged. About an hour later, we had to call the fire department again. The fire fighters thought it just restarted and so they soaked the whole place down to make sure it did not start again. There was little damage to the building at this time. The third time we had to call that night it was too late to save the bar. We later found out that he did it deliberately for the insurance money. He went to jail for selling drugs and insurance fraud."
Eric Adamson, Centerville High School, Centerville, South Dakota

Irresponsibility
"The Merriam Webster's Collegiate Dictionary defines the word responsibility as 'the quality or state of being responsible.' One major act of irresponsibility is that a third of the businesses in Sioux Falls, South Dakota sold alcohol to minors in a police sting…In South Dakota, people younger than 21 carry driver's licenses with a red stripe across the top, while older people have a blue stripe on their licenses. Restricted licenses for teen drivers have a green stripe. I think that it is pretty bad when the clerk can't tell if they are legal buyers or not, when all they have to do is look at he color of the license."
Matt Smith, Centerville High School, Centerville, South Dakota

Life's Lessons
"My grandmother has had Alzheimer's Disease for about seven years or longer. She lived by herself in Beresford, South Dakota. An insurance company representative from Elk Point, South Dakota, stopped by her house and asked he if she needed insurance for a nursing home. She agreed and she bought a policy. The insurance guy kept coming back and getting money for new policies. My mother thought my grandmother had nursing home insurance. My grandmother's memory started really getting bad so we moved her to Centerville, South Dakota, where we live. We got an apartment for her. It took us a couple of weeks to move her to Centerville, but her memory still wasn't very good. We then asked her if she wanted to go to the nursing home and she did. We got everything worked out so she could go to the nursing home. She had been living there about a month when we got a letter saying that she didn't have nursing home insurance and the company said they weren't going to pay for anything.

My mother has been writing letters to the company and saying that the insurance man sold my grandmother bad policies. The company told us we didn't have a policy even though we have all the checks from when she bought the policies. Since she has no insurance, we had to move my grandmother out of the home and in with us. The irresponsible act is the guy that sold my grandmother policies that were not any good; also, if he did that to my grandmother, how many other bad policies has he written…The guy who sold her those policies shouldn't be able to sell another policy again. He should also have to pay for the stress my grandma, my mother and her sister all had to go through…A good example is when I help my mother with my grandmother by cooking, doing her laundry, and just helping out with her living with us. We didn't think it was going to work, but it's going just fine."
Derek Velasquez, Centerville High School, Centerville, South Dakota

Mentors
"The people that are in the Big Brothers and Big Sisters program in a nearby town donate a lot of their time to help some kinds in their community who do not have a role model to look up to. People that give their time to show a kid the "ropes of life" and expect nothing in return except the affection of another person truly show responsibility for others in their community."
Josh Nelson, Centerville High School, Centerville, South Dakota

"In the community of Centerville, South Dakota, there is a program in the school involving teens called the "Natural Helpers." They contribute in an activity called the "Buddy Program." The program involves a high school student who is working with a child in grade school who may have problems at home, problems in school subjects, or problems with friends. The teen helps the child once a week or more. The child gets a new friend and usually does better with the problems they had. The individual who takes part in this activity is very responsible by helping a troubled individual. Another example of a responsible act is the Centerville Improv. Team located in Centerville, South Dakota. They help kids with their problems and show ids how to do the right thing in difficult circumstances. They also distribute bike helmets to first graders. By doing this they show kids how to be responsible for their actions and to remain safe."
Ryan Evans, Centerville High School, Centerville, South Dakota

Outrageous
"The last example of people not taking responsibility is when a 15-year-old boy raped a 3-year-old child and got sent home with probation for a year. Another 14-year-old boy sexually assaulted his 6-year-old sister and he was sent home with only four years probation. People all over want to know what can be done, but there is no answer yet."
Ryan Olson, Centerville High School, Centerville, South Dakota

"A jury awarded $178,000 in damages to a woman who sued her former fiancé for breaking their seven-week engagement. The breakdown: $93,000 for pain and suffering, $60,000 for loss of income from her legal practice, and $25,000 for psychiatric counseling expenses."
Mandy Austin, Centerville High School, Centerville, South Dakota

"Recently, a surfer sued another surfer for 'taking his wave.' The case was ultimately dismissed because they were unable to put a price on 'pain and suffering' endured by watching someone ride the wave that was 'intended for you.'"
Laci Harmon, Centerville High School, Centerville, South Dakota

"A minister from Irene, South Dakota, received thousands of dollars in [charitable contributions] to help pay for his cancer treatments. As it turned out, this man did not have cancer. He had conned everyone into thinking he did. He went so far as to shave his head to make it appear as if [he] was receiving chemotherapy treatments."
Joe McCombs, Centerville High School, Centerville, South Dakota

"U.S. schools are being criticized for 'Zero Tolerance.' In America, [some] educators like the philosophy 'No slip-ups, no exceptions, no excuses.' The rules are very easily understood. 'Every weapon brought to school is a weapon, whether it is an AK-47 or a Boy Scout camping knife. Every drug is a drug, whether it is cocaine or a Tylenol tablet.'

Every violation of this rule is met by pre-set punishment no matter what kind of a school record the kid has. They are suspended or they get expelled from school. A Texas girl, who was 13 years [old], was punished for carrying a bottle of Advil in her backpack that was detected by a drug-sniffing dog. A 17-year-old Georgia girl was punished for bringing an African tribal knife to her world history class. Schools punish the kids before they use common sense in thinking why they had a weapon or drug…The student should get some kind of punishment because they broke the rules, but they should not get expelled or suspended for bringing a knife for history class or Tylenol for a headache."
Joe Ward, Centerville High School, Centerville, South Dakota

"One example of an irresponsible act is, three years ago there was a fragile little girl named Jennifer Bush. Jennifer was from Coral Springs, Florida. Jennifer pleaded for the Clinton health care plan because of the medical bills for her chronic digestive problems. The two million dollars in medical bills exhausted the family's health insurance. At an event promoting Clinton-care, the sick child posed for a picture with the First Lady, Hillary Rodham Clinton. Jennifer's mother, Kathleen Bush, wrote to the White House, 'Do you know what it is like to choose between purchasing groceries for the week to feed your family or buy needed medications for your chronically ill child?' As it turns out, Kathleen didn't know about that stuff either. Florida officials arrested Bush and charged her with aggravated child abuse and organized fraud for making her child sick so they could gain attention. Independent pediatric specialists found no evidence of a chronic illness. The reason the Bushes were lying about their daughter's health was because prosecutors found out that they were using the donations and the government aid to pay off the bills on the credit cards they were racking up. They would use the credit cards to go to the Bahamas and Disney World. They also had a Harley-Davidson motorcycle, remodeled their kitchen, and put in a swimming pool.

Another example is in Salem, Massachusetts. There were some inmates who sued the county jail, the sheriff, and some other officials for cruel and unusual conditions. The reason they sued is that they didn't like the multiple bunks. The fact they didn't have a sink and toilet in each room made them unhappy. They were also unhappy that they didn't have any place to exercise during the winter. I guess they forgot that they were in prison to be punished for crimes that they committed and not to have [luxuries], like a vacation…They were awarded two million dollars plus twelve percent interest from the time the trial was ended until they collected their 'hard'-earned money. In addition to the winnings, each [plaintiff] got $10, tax-free, for each day that person was in jail. An article from the newspaper read, 'The Department of Correction officials might feel relieved; the inmates were seeking $1,600 per day, per man.'

My last example is, in Idaho there was a student by the name of Jason Wilkins. This kid thought it would be fun to make his friends laugh by 'mooning' them. Jason was in his dorm room on the third floor when he got the idea. He stepped onto the radiator and pressed his bare buttocks to the window and leaned back. As he leaned back, the window shattered and he fell the three floors to the cement, landing on his buttocks. When he fell, he fractured four vertebrae. The disconcerted college student just called it a freak accident at the time. Then six months later, Wilkins and his parents alleged that it was negligence on [the] part of the school and its employees. They tried to sue the school for $940,000…"
Darren Erickson, Centerville High School, Centerville, South Dakota

Peers
"Peer Helpers…pick individual kids or groups of kids and work with them. In some cases, the helpers just visit with kids one-on-one, just to make them feel important and let them know that kids in their high school care about them. I think this is showing a great deal of responsibility because kids are taking the time to help out other kids."
Laci Harmon, Centerville High School, Centerville, South Dakota

"To me, it is easier to be responsible when you are with responsible friends. If you have a responsible influence, I think you have a better chance to be responsible."
Darren Erickson, Centerville High School, Centerville, South Dakota

Responsible Acts
"The Department of Corrections in Pierre let some inmates help wire the Centerville High School. They wired the school with cable and Internet hook-ups. The inmates were in school working on all the wiring for about two months. They did get paid, $0.20 an hour, which is very cost effective for our school."
Phillip Eide, Centerville High School, Centerville, South Dakota

"The FFA has also helped put in a sprinkler system at the Good Samaritan nursing home. They did this for free and, in return, the football team gets to practice there."
Adam Buckneberg, Centerville High School, Centerville, South Dakota

"My third example is the FFA bean test plot. Every year, to make money and provide test results to local seed companies, we provide a test plot. Every year, the FFA members come and help plant the beans and care for them."
Darren Erickson, Centerville High School, Centerville, South Dakota

Responsible Acts
"The Thompson family from Vermillion, South Dakota, adopted two children. One of the children [suffers] from fetal alcohol effect and the other from fetal alcohol syndrome. The older child, with FAE, has many behavioral and learning problems. She was also born deaf. The family was required to learn sign language to enable them to communicate with her. The younger child is worse. She has more severe disabilities. Although she appears normal, she lacks the ability to reason between what is right and wrong. The Thompsons have had to completely alter their lifestyles to accommodate these girls' special needs. They never complain and consider these girls a wonderful blessing in their lives."
Joe McCombs, Centerville High School, Centerville, South Dakota

"I clean the ditches out by my house in the country. My grandpa and some others adopted a highway and clean the ditches. They also have the town, where I live, clean ditches for people who volunteer to help clean up the town."
Eric Adamson, Centerville High School, Centerville, South Dakota

"Here in Centerville, another group that shows responsibility would be the Garden Club. These volunteers try to bring some beauty to the town. They make it beautiful by planting flowers and cleaning up the park area. Doing this not only brings people into the town, but it also beautifies it for those who live here."
Tom Moore, Centerville High School, Centerville, South Dakota

"People volunteered their time to clean up a small town park that used to be really nice about 50 years ago. Over time, it had deteriorated because people threw beer cans and garbage all over and spun their tires and dug ruts. People had been doing this for a very long time and nobody had done anything about it until recently. A group of people got a committee together to clean it up and think of new ways to improve the park. They also got fund raisers going to pay for the improvements."
Connor Myers, Centerville High School, Centerville, South Dakota

"I was out south of Centerville, South Dakota, checking my traps when I saw a man kneeling on the ground in snow drift. I got out of my truck and went up to him and checked to see if he was all right. As I got up close, I realized that it was Jim Peterson, an elderly man. He was very happy to see me because he thought he would have been dead if I had not come along. I assisted him into my pickup truck and then I brought him into town. We went and got Dean Austin to pull his car out and then I brought Jim home. Jim was lucky that I showed up at the time I did."
Adam Williamson, Centerville High School, Centerville, South Dakota

"My older brother lost his wallet. It had his driver's license in it and some other items of identification. It also had some money and some personal items. The wallet was sent to him in the mail a few days after he had lost it with nothing missing. My friend also lost his wallet at the beach and it had money, identification and personal items in it. A lady found it on the beach and called him to come and get it."
Eric Adamson, Centerville High School, Centerville, South Dakota

Solutions
"A clerk at the Vermont District Court for Rutland County said the state reduced the charges against the 32-year-old woman. The charge was reduced from felony retail theft, which can be punished by up to ten years in prison, to misdemeanor retail theft, punishable by, at most, six months. City police said the woman stole about $100 worth of items from a supermarket including doughnuts, batteries, cigarettes and videotapes. If the items' retail prices are added up, they come to $101.49, just over the $100 threshold for the felony charge. But the public defender filed a court motion asking that the sales going on the day of the alleged theft be accounted for. Both the batteries and doughnuts were marked down enough to lower the bill to $97.37 and the charge to a misdemeanor…I feel the woman that stole goods should not have had her sentence reduced just because some of the items were on sale. This is just telling people that they can steal and get away with it easier. I think our courts should be tougher on people that commit crimes. It is a crime and should have consequences. One way to slow down crime would be to make laws tougher so when someone does break the law, they have to face the consequences."
Mandy Austin, Centerville High School, Centerville, South Dakota

"A convict who escaped from prison sued his county and the sheriff for negligence in allowing him to escape. Another convict sued his county and sheriff for the emotional stress he suffered while trying to escape…The state or county that the prison was in should have had a tighter, [stricter] security program so they wouldn't be able to escape so easily. They also should have come up with something for the convict or convicts to do so they wouldn't have time to think about escaping, let alone trying to escape."
Jayme Wellenstein, Centerville High School, Centerville, South Dakota

"A woman went into a Northridge discount department store to buy a blender. She decided to take the bottom box from a stack of four blenders from an upper shelf used to store extra stock. When she pulled out the bottom box, the rest of the boxes fell. She sued the store for not warning the customers from taking stock from the upper shelf and for stacking the boxes so high. She claimed to sustain carpal tunnel syndrome along with neck, shoulder, and back pain…There are many responsible and irresponsible acts today. In order to change our bad to good, I feel the court system should improve. In a lot of cases, people get off with a lesser sentence than…they actually deserved. In that case, they usually do not even learn their lesson from what they did. For example, the woman from Northridge sued the store for not warning customers from taking stock from the upper shelf and for stacking the boxes so high. When this case went to court, the woman won the case and got $40,000 from the store. I think our court system should [have] overruled the case because it was an irresponsible mistake made by the lady, and it was no one else's fault but her own."
Laci Harmon, Centerville High School, Centerville, South Dakota

"A case of someone not taking responsibility for themselves deals with a young couple who decided to play bumper cars on the Grand Prix go-cart at Walt Disney World. If you have ever been there, you would know that this is very hard to do because the cars are spaced out so that they cannot touch each other, and they cannot go any faster than approximately seven miles per hour. Although at the very end of the track, where the drivers park the carts, there is a short period when a very reckless and determined driver could run into the rear end of the car ahead of them. This is apparently what happened in this case. The young man was finally successful. After repeated attempts, he crashed into the rear of his fiancé's car. She was hurt and she took it to court. The jury found that the young man was eighty-five percent responsible. The young woman was found to be 14 percent responsible. Walt Disney was found one percent responsible. Even though they were only one percent responsible, Disney had to pay one hundred percent of the judgment, since [Disney] had the deepest pockets.

One real solution would be to have a county-appointed person who tells the jury before the hearing to make sure people are taking responsibility for themselves. I think that judges should throw out more cases like the one above about the young couple at Disney World, and juries should also take it upon themselves to see to it that justice is truly done. I think that some of these cases are completely absurd, as do millions of other people, and the jury should think so, too. These cases are costing the taxpayers a lot of money in court costs."
Adam Buckneberg, Centerville High School, Centerville, South Dakota

Student Opinion
"An example of someone that did not take responsibility is shown in the McDonalds' coffee case. Stella Liebeck was a passenger in her grandson's car when they went through the drive-through so she could get a cup of coffee. After buying the coffee, Mrs. Liebeck had her grandson stop so she could add cream and sugar to her coffee. She placed the cup between her knees to remove the lid. When the lid came off, the whole cup of coffee spilled into her lap.

Stella Liebeck was wearing sweat pants that soaked in the coffee and made the sweat pants fit tightly to her skin. She suffered third-degree burns on six percent of her body; she was put in the hospital for eight days where she underwent skin grafting. Mrs. Liebeck wanted to settle a claim for $20,000 after she had skin treatments, but McDonalds refused to pay.

McDonalds brought up claims showing that more than 700 people had been burned by their coffee from 1982 to 1992. Some of the claims were people who had gotten third-degree burns just like Liebeck's. McDonalds said that they have held their coffee between 180 and 190 degrees Fahrenheit to keep it tasting good. The manager admitted, though, that he had not checked the coffee machine to make sure that it was at the correct temperature. Other local cafes sell their coffee at a much lower temperature of about 135 to 140 degrees Fahrenheit.

Liebeck was awarded $200,000 by the jury for compensatory damages. This was later reduced to $160,000 because the jury found Liebeck at 20% of the fault. She was also awarded $2.7 million in punitive damages which comes out to be about two days of McDonalds coffee sales."
Ryan Olson, Centerville High School, Centerville, South Dakota

"Whose responsibility is it to watch after children's actions, parents or store owners? It is irresponsible for parents to feel that store owners and gas stations [owners] should watch the smoking habits of other people's children. It should be the parents' own responsibility to watch out for their kids' problems and what they are doing, not others. Parents should watch and also ask their children if they smoke or not. If parents are worried about their kids, if they are smoking or not, maybe they should take charge instead of the store owner…Maybe the parents should have taken a little more responsibility in teaching their kids right from wrong."
Janna Johnke, Centerville High School, Centerville, South Dakota

"Although there are a lot of irresponsible people, there are still honest and caring ones who are responsible. For instance, a three-day Franklin Graham Festival in Sioux Falls, South Dakota raised $297,000 in offerings. Although it cost about $350,000 to hold the event, all but approximately $20,000 was raised by local people. Coming out on the short end of not having enough money, the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association covered the money needed. The event ran from September 19-21 and attracted approximately 62,000 fans. The organizers of the festival were very happy and pleased with the incredible turnout. Pete Whitaker, a coordinator of the festival, said the organizers were happy with the total cost and were not surprised that fundraising would continue for months after that. Billy Graham does not get a salary; he volunteers his own time at the festivals."
Janna Johnke, Centerville High School, Centerville, South Dakota

"Another example of an irresponsible act is people that keep taking Dr. jack Kevorkian to court for his assistance in some people's suicide. Just lately there are people complaining about him helping a young man, who [was] paralyzed from the neck down, commit suicide. The young man fought to be released from the hospital so it was obviously his choice to die. Opponents to assisted suicide say that helping a paralyzed man is even worse than helping terminally ill people commit suicide. I think that if a person wants help committing suicide, that is his choice and responsibility. It is not the choice or responsibility of anyone else whether a person commits suicide or not. This is a case of the wrong people trying to take responsibility for the act in question."
Aaron Hybertson, Centerville High School, Centerville, South Dakota

White Hats
"In Sioux Falls, South Dakota, there is a coalition forming to help find welfare mothers reliable, inexpensive cars so they can drive to work. The coalition is raising money to pick up most of the cost for the cars. The coalition is taking responsibility for the people in Sioux Falls who don't have it so good."
Josh Nelson, Centerville High School, Centerville, South Dakota

"Jane Meyer and Polly Fabrizio have been taking their dogs to visit the residents in local nursing homes. The dogs provide good therapy for the residents. Also many of the residents like to share memories of their dogs they had when they were young. They enjoy taking the dogs around to residents who cannot get out of bed to see their reactions."
Janna Johnke, Centerville High School, Centerville, South Dakota

"The second example of a good responsible act was the building of two baseball fields completed by volunteer help. There were fundraisers to raise money for the materials and the lights that were put up. A great amount of time went into this project, all of which was volunteered time."
Aaron Hybertson, Centerville High School, Centerville, South Dakota

"Our local FFA helps out with the Special Olympics when they can. Many of the students who had the chance to help with the program said it felt great knowing they helped."
Laci Harmon, Centerville High School, Centerville, South Dakota

"In a small town called Rutland, South Dakota, the community is pulling together to start a convenience store. The nearest gas station is 15 miles away so the town decided to build one. The town is also letting the kids in the school design the plan. They feel this helps the students have more knowledge about a business. They are also going to have a meeting room and a community center in it."
Janna Johnke, Centerville High School, Centerville, South Dakota

"My Youth Group went to New Orleans for a National Youth Convention this summer. While we were down there, we were assigned an area to clean up for a servant event. We were given an area that was rundown and cluttered, but we raked, swept the streets and sidewalks, trimmed branches, mowed lawns, and picked up garbage. By the time we were through with that area, it looked like what a nice neighborhood should look like."
Jayne Wellenstein, Centerville High School, Centerville, South Dakota

"The janitor's wife had been in a car accident and his attentions had been toward her, causing him to be somewhat behind in his work. Our church tore down trees and took them to the dump, and did other jobs around the school that needed to be done. About 40 people pitched in and greatly bettered the appearance of the school."
Joe McCombs, Centerville High School, Centerville, South Dakota        [Back]