<p>Essay prompt: Many people believe that our government should do more to solve our problems. After all, how can one individual create more jobs or make roads safer or improve schools or help to provide any of the other benefits that we have come to enjoy? And yet expecting that the government-rather than individuals-should always come up with the solutions to society's ills have made us less self reliant, undermining our independence and self-sufficiency.</p>
<p>Assignment: Should people take more responsibility for solving problems that affect their communities or the nation in general?</p>
<p>The essay:</p>
<p>Taking responsibility for solving the issues facing a community is vital to any community's prosperity. Examples from literature, history and current events support the claim that society must be actively involved in solving problems that face it if it wishes to prosper. In fact, some of the most remarkable events in history occurred when citizens themselves took part in solving the community's issues.</p>
<p>In the novel 1984, Orwell describes a totalitarian society in which citizens must follow orders from the government or they will be reprimanded and will face dire consequences for their actions. 1984 is a cardinal example of how deleterious a society can become if its citizens do not take responsibility for solving their own issues, and instead let the government prevail.</p>
<p>Examples showing the necessity for active participation of a society go far beyond the realm of literature and fictional characters; The United States of America came into existence because its citizens were outraged at the egregious treatment they were subjected to under the British government. Had they not stepped in and taken charge of how their community was run, they would have had to continue to pay exorbitant taxes and would not have gained their independence.</p>
<p>A more recent example is that of the protests in Egypt, Libya and Syria against demagogues who exploited citizens for their own benefit.</p>
<p>We can therefore see from 1984, the American Revolution and the protests in the Middle East that society indeed benefits greatly if its citizens take part in solving the problems they face.</p>