As a prospective high school graduate, one will enter a workforce and live in a society with an increasingly global perspective. One’s knowledge of international issues and cultures will influence the global society that one will live in.
I think the one most important thing that people must realize is the inherent power that is justified to them in their mere existence. In a world of over five billion people, the common man at times considers himself expendable. What could I possibly do that would have any impact or leave a mark for the world? Who am I to make change? If there is one thing I have concluded in my 17 years of observation on this planet Earth, change is the only constant. And the people that make change, plebian or noble, are those that understand the power of living.
My realization came about when I was 13 years old. At the time I was very much into tennis. During the summer, my best friend and I would always play at our neighborhood courts where only one court was useable. However, when school started, things changed. Everyday, we would go up to the tennis courts but only to be disappointed because two high school students would always be playing before we got there. See, the high school kids got out of school before the middle school kids. So one day I decided to write to the mayor explaining my situation and hopefully receiving some kind of response for fixing the other court. At the time I was quite skeptical as to the success of writing a letter but I figured I might as well try. Then, the following spring, the neighborhood received word that the town was going to renovate the tennis courts so that both courts would be playable. That very instance, I had reached an epiphany. It was at this point in my life that I had realized that I do have the power to make change. My means can result in some type of significant ends. Now looking back, I do not know whether it was my letter that was responsible for the renovations or if it was...