Essay/Term paper: Society's problems and my role in helping it

Essay, term paper, research paper:  Narrative Essays

Society's Problems and My Role In Helping It


Is helping solve the problems of society everyone's job, or no one's job. What
role would you hope to play, based on your interests and developing skills, in
the solution of one or more specific problems?

As the problems in society arise, it is the duty of every individual to ease the
burden by helping to solve these problems. Too often, individuals pass off that
responsibility with the hope that others will pick up the slack. The problem is
that too many shrug their responsibility leaving an insurmountable degree of
perils.

It is everyone's obligation to help solve the problems because everyone has a
stake in society. Not enough people see the whole picture when it comes to
society's problems. If something hurts the society, it hurts the individual. For
example, the problem of homelessness is not just the problem of those who are
without residence. Their plight effects us all. Homelessness hurts the local
businessman whose customers are frightened away by the homeless man living on
the corner. It hurts those who have to commute to work via public transportation
and must deal with the panhandlers. It hurts those whose homes are burglarized
by the homeless man looking for money to feed his family. There is no isolated
problem in society and each problem has a ripple effect that eventually hurts
everyone. Even if only for selfish reasons, every individual should help to
solve the problems of society. A parallel that I can draw to further illustrate
my point is the team play of former NBA star Earvin "Magic" Johnson. When asked
why he is such a team player, he responded that he was a very selfish man. He
wanted to win so much that he was willing to do whatever it took to succeed.

I hope that in my later life I have every opportunity to help those who need it.
I try to help out as much as I can now. Due to my commitments at school, I have
little spare time, but I still attempt to help. During Thanksgiving I help out
with my school's Thanksgiving Food Drive. I also volunteer as a tutor for those
who need help with their academics. On smaller scales, I always donate my loose
change to the various charity boxes that are strategically placed at the
counters of all the local stores and I always recycle my recyclables. At college,
I look forward to the opportunity to further assist in improving society.

Beyond college, I hope to eventually make a real difference in society. I have
chosen business management and/or marketing as my career of choice, but I would
eventually like to throw my hat into the ring of politics. My goal is to become
a successful businessman and set myself up comfortably. If I become well off,
which I hope to, I will give back to the society that helped me reach that point.
I will do so by donating both my time and money to various charitable services.
I then hope to run for local office. My desire to be a politician is for only
altruistic reasons. I want to change many things about the way our government is
run and the way it handles the problems of society. If I run for office, it will
not be to gain financially or to make a name for myself. I want to make a
difference, and I feel that through the medium of politics I could.

I feel that the single most important institution in our nation is the
educational system. Without a strong educated population, the United States will
never return to its former economic prosperity and standing among the nations of
the world. More important than pumping money into defense and the military, we
should be focusing our time, money and effort on educating the youth. I feel
that this starts by decreasing the class size at the grade school level.
Children who are neglected at home need the assurance and support of their
teacher. The teacher cannot possibly do that for thirty-five students. A young
child's mind is a blank slate and can be influenced very easily. It is very
important that the child is instilled with proper values and strong sense of
confidence in himself. That is why the school has to get to the child before the
local drug dealers can corrupt him. I also feel that more money needs to be
spent on the educational growth of the child from kindergarten through college.
Teaching is, in my estimation, the most important profession in our nation and
the attitude towards them does not reflect that statement. Better conditions and
higher salaries would attract more dedicated and educated people into the field
of education. I hope that one day, I have enough money that I can donate large
sums to various institutions of higher learning so that children who would not
have otherwise had the opportunity to receive an education will be able to.
There are many other changes I would like to see instituted. I am for more
radical programs such as the legalization of gambling, prostitution and drugs.
It sounds like I am suggesting a total moral defabrication of our society, but
in reality, past the negative perception, such programs would be very beneficial.
Legalized gambling, under state control, would allow the state to make huge
profits. Besides the capital raised from the casinos, tourism would increase.
That would be beneficial for all surrounding businesses. Legalized prostitution
would make an already practiced institution safer, reducing the spread of HIV.
An educated businessman could run the brothel allowing an honest individual to
make the profit. It would also lower the instances of physical abuse between the
prostitute and the patron. The legalization of drugs would put the dealers out
of business. Young children would no longer have the option of selling drugs and
would be forced to get an education. Without drug dealers, there are no turf
wars and fewer gun related murders. The drugs could then be sold in a pharmacy
where upon an honest business man could make the profit. This would reduce the
sharing of IV needles and reduce the spread of HIV. By legalizing the drug, the
rebel element is taken away and it is my belief there would be fewer abusers.
These are just a few programs that I would like to push for should I ever be
given the chance.

If individuals do not soon understand the importance of helping out in our
society, the problems will become too great for us to handle. I would like to
close with a little story my mother used to tell me when I was little: "This is
a story about four people named Everybody, Somebody and Nobody. There was an
important job to be done and Everybody was asked to do it. Everybody was sure
Somebody would do it. Anybody could have done it, but Nobody did it. Somebody
got angry about that, because it was Everybody's job. Everybody thought Anybody
could do it but Nobody realized that Everybody wouldn't do it. It ended up that
Everybody blamed Somebody when Nobody did what Anybody could have done."