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 the 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 may have made us less self-reliant, undermining our independence and self-sufficiency.
Assignment: Should people take more responsibility for solving problems that affect their communities or the nation in general? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations.
Response:
"Seven billion people walk the earth today, and most of them are unaware of their significance in society. The ineffable large sum of people makes each person seem smaller and smaller, but in reality, it just makes them bigger. People should come up with solutions to society’s issues as an individual to better our world, government, and selves.
George Orwell’s Animal Farm* is a prime example as to how individuals need to take a stance. The novel revolves around the Pigs, an oglicharchy that has taken over the animal farm, and has been promoting madness and evictions. Soon, a few of the wiser animals begin to realize the insanity, and attempt to overthrow the government, or the Pigs. The plot depicts how without the mass public, the government is not as strong as they seem. In other words, we ARE the government and to not do our part, is asking for a corrupt society.
Voter’s apathy is another example that delineates the importance of the individual. According to a study from Columbia University, in the 2008 election, only 62% of American citizens voted for their preferred candidate. Nearly half of American’s are diseased with voter’s apathy, which makes them believe that their vote doesn’t count. However, if that other 38% had voted for Hillary Clinton, America may have gone a completely different route, these past seven years.
Often it is not the significance of the issue that is the problem, but the people who don’t believe in their own importance. If people would understand that the individual can make an impact, society would regenerate itself and thrive. As I proved through George Orwell’s Animal Farm* and the moral of voter’s apathy, it is evident that people must take responsibility for solving issues that affect their community or the nation in general."
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Thank you!!