I just finsihed an essay. Tell me your opinions guys!
SAT January 2007:
Prompt 1
Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and the assignment below.
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.
Essay:
Governments, everywhere, are burdened with their duties which include solving stressing issues, building facilities and roads and improving public health care assistance. At this stage, individuals should take action and start their bold initiatives in order to make a valuable change no matter how small and local. People must be responsible to dedicate their talents, genuine and work, independently from governmental orders, in their communities.
U.S. history is replete with features that illustrate the idea of personal initiatives within one’s community. In the early 1900s, the U.S. was overwhelmed with an unprecedented state of corruption and economic oppression. In the Gilded Age, the Robber Barons controlled every sector in industry, be it oil, shipping, mining, railroads, steel etc. All these domains were “ruled” by greedy lobbyists. While J. Rockefeller and Vanderbilt accumulated astronomical amounts of wealth, laborers were eating insalubrious food and living in squalor conditions. When the status quo became unbearable, some individuals, including Jane Adams, tried to rectify these injustices and to fight against disparity. Along with other volunteers, Jane raised funds to help immigrants. She established a settlement where she provided women laborer with food, health assistance and shelter. Also, she introduced several campaigns to raise awareness about the issue of monopolies, corruption and injustice. A bunch of citizens, afterwards, also participated and protested against lobbyist influence in government. They called for a new commission led by experts not by lobbyists. Ultimately, they succeeded to deter Robber Barons from acquiring more power. The newly installed government started a wide range of reforms which retained the rights of workers and ensured a better work conditions for them. Taking the responsibility to improve their local community by themselves, citizens achieved national recognition and thus helped to solve a main dilemma in the United States.
Similarly, I can point to my personal experience during 2011 Tunisian Revolution. In fact, during the peak of protests, Tunisia was experiencing a state of instability and insecurity. Thieves and gangsters invaded the streets, robbing supermarkets, pillaging stores and amenities and terrorizing women and children. Tunisian citizens, including me, were determined to take action and stop the drain of national resources. Men went out by night, guarding neighborhoods, ensuring the safety of the roads and persecuting thieves. Tunisian’s actions were also vital to protect some other governmental sites from robbery and destruction. Finally, each neighborhood was secured and clear from gangsters and thieves by the end of January 2011. Ultimately, these actions stemmed from an inner sense of responsibility, taking place in local communities, were clinical to save lives and avoid losses.
Through a careful analysis of American Gilded Age and my own experience in my local Tunisian community, I come to the idea that expecting the government to deal with all dilemmas is not a valuable approach because governments are busy with bigger problems such as foreign policy and defense. That’s why people should move and leave their own fingerprints by helping to solve ills locally.
