Why Do You Serve free essay sample

We live in society that chooses to make its biggest issues similar to the following: Who will win American Idol? What can I do to get more â€Å"likes† on Facebook? When is the next iPhone due to be released? Where is the nearest Chick-Fil-A? Why is Lindsay Lohan in rehab again? How is Charlie Sheen still alive and kicking? While every one of these questions has a unique significance to popular culture, I believe that America’s youth has succumbed to the all-too-enticing grasp of first-world complacency. People around me are always talking but never say anything at all. Conversations lack substance while pressing issues get swept under the rug for a day that will never come. As a naive middle schooler who saw more purpose in Myspace statuses than working to make a difference, I knew this lifestyle a tad too well. I would get home after a long day of school, pop open a fresh Diet Coke, and waste the day away watching Disney channel while doing homework. We will write a custom essay sample on Why Do You Serve? or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page I was so immersed in my schoolwork and the intricacies of the entertainment industry that any issue outside of those realms ceased to exist. I was blind to problems both at home and overseas. That is, until that unforgettable day in seventh grade when I attended my first Miami Heat game. My sister and I were drawing festive war paint on our faces to the tune of red and black; my mother and father exchanged witty repartee in the front seat; the cool October breeze blew in from the open window in the back. These components made for an evening like any other, until we entered what my mother calls the â€Å"Skid Row† of Miami. Blood-curdling wails and screams, along with ferocious tapping noises, erupted from seemingly nowhere. My sister and I pushed our noses against the glass and tried to get a glimpse of who or what was causing all the ruckus. What I saw truly changed my life. People of all ages lined the streets. Men pushing shopping carts as make-shift homes argued over sleeping space. A mother rummaged through an open dumpster while cradling an infant in her arms. All the while, inhabitants of Skid Row yelled and hissed insults – although they were directed at cars rolling passed, I felt as though they were spoken directly at me. As I looked at these people, I muted their insults and focused on their faces. They each had pulses, and dreams, and unique thought processes; they were no different than me, no better or worse, yet they sat on the streets while I sat in a Mercedes. I saw the hopelessness burning in their eyes and was left horrified, enlightened, and angry – how could this travesty persist within my city’s walls, less than a mile away from the luxuries of the state’s finest basketball stadium? The question remains unanswered, but I have tried my hand at rewriting it ever since. I have spearheaded food drives through my Girl Scout troop to help the homeless. I have founded an annual clothing drive to give underprivileged Catholic students a beautiful and unforgettable sacrament of Communion. I have coordinated walks for leukemia and breast cancer to take one step closer to finding a cure. I have dedicated six hours of every Saturday to making the deaf and disabled feel as beautiful and purposeful as I see them to be. I have packed, collected, and shipped hundreds of presents for children of third-world countries to have a Christmas to look forward to. I have spearheaded a community-wide book drive, collecting over $20,000, to give the child soldiers of Uganda the education they deserve. Everything I have done so far has been aimed at one common goal: giving people in my local community and overseas a fighting chance to prosper, and a reason to endure. As Winston Churchill once said, â€Å"If you are going through hell, keep going.† I want to provide light at the end of as many tunnels as I can. Ignorance is bliss, sure, but knowledge is power: I serve to leave a legacy of positive change, no matter how small, and will stop at nothing to do so.