Citizens everywhere have different opinions and beliefs that can probably change their community, city, or even state. By voicing different opinions and by the actions that we the people do, all this is possible.
In chapter 1, Making Our Lives Count, the story about Virginia Ramirez, “I Never Knew I Had It”, and her determination to make something of herself and her community really affected me. She showed everyone, including her husband and most importantly herself, that anything is possible. Even though it all started out with one elderly neighbor dying, a large change doesn’t just come like that. Virginia got her education, brought the problem up to a local volunteer group, COPS, and eventually became the lead speaker for the group. With time, she received an award for all the hard work she had done. To me, Virginia is an excellent role model for anyone. She got her priorities straight, found a task and took it to the end. This story makes me think what would happen if there was something wrong at the WNEC community that I saw wrong and wanted to change. Even if it weren’t as big of a change as Virginia’s, it would still take courage to participate in citizen involvement.
The story that I just talked about affected me so much because I went through a similar thing with my hometown of Ludlow, MA. My town was planning on getting a budget cut for all school activities including the ones that I was in. Well, a bunch of other furious teens and I went to the town meeting and protested to the budget cut. I wouldn’t have cared because I was a senior at the time, but those activities I was were on my record and if they were abolished then I would have nothing to back me up in my college career. Virginia Ramirez said on page 19, “I’m preparing my future,” That quote really stuck out at me because my future was all I could think about when they threatened with the budget cut. With time, effort and a lot of town meetings the town overruled the proposal and we kept our sports and activities. It took citizen involvement and effort to change that. It wasn’t adults who made this change. It was student involvement that made a difference.
The Essay on Virginia And New England Communities Indians Due
Even though both of the colonies began with English descent they evolved into totally different communities due to political, geographical and religious reasons. Evidence shows that the two communities were very unique in their ways of dealing with slaves, religion, and many aspects of the every day life. In this essay the documents: John Winthrop, A Model of Christian Charity; List of Emigrants ...
In my life after WNEC, I have dreams and goals that I must accomplish to be successful. I plan on being a dedicated citizen, because it’s being a citizen that makes your community.
Another story that I felt affected me was The Cost of Silence. In this story, a man that was the first full-time black professor at Harvard risked everything to voice his opinion. He wanted to have a full-time minority woman on the faculty at Harvard. Because this did not happen he left his job at a very well known school. In this chapter, Loeb tells us that “[the cost of silence] is like caustic acids, eating at out gut. If the condition persists, …we grow numb, detached, dead to the world around us.” If Derrick Bell didn’t not voice this problem, it would have eaten him up inside.
We all reserve the right to voice our opinions and beliefs. If a problem persists, I would hope to take action and bring the problem to someone and have someone do the same if they found a problem.
I hope to have enough courage in my future years to have my opinion voiced and to risk it all if that’s what it takes.
