It doesn’t take much to make a difference in the community, and there are plenty of ways of doing so. When helping out in your community you could perform simple tasks such as cleaning an elderly woman’s lawn or helping out a neighbor after school. But I would like to encourage you to think on a broader scale and try to imagine yourself being able to help the world. During the election in 2008 of President Barack Obama there was an up roar of involvement and political efficacy in the black communities because for the first time many had hope and a dream that the cries and challenges of their ancestors were somehow fulfilled through President Barack Obama. At that point in time you saw college students all across the nation volunteering all of their time to make sure that he would be elected. I myself could not vote at that time so it just made me want to work harder I worked over 200 hours that school year dedicating my soul to his campaign. To say that I was happy when he won was and still is an understatement. I do not think I would have been so dedicated if I had not always done community service and had witnessed how much I really affected others. My first experience with community service would be when I worked for city year as a junior leader, which really showed me how, unprivileged others were in my community. I also participated in Youth Corps, which is a leadership academy I went through in my freshman year of high school in that program I got to visit the juvenile prison which put me in complete shock because at that time I had never known how severe the consequences were when us kids made mistakes, and also how these mistakes could follow us for the rest of our lives.
That was probably the most troubling thing I had to witness that year because it finally hit me that kids weren’t as care free as I was and they did not get to play but instead they were forced to grow up and live in the juvenile system. This is why it is so important to me for young people to feel as if they can truly change the world, I don’t want them to think that the only thing they can accomplish is going to jail and be another statistic. When you help your community and see the results it is inevitable for you to not feel a sense of efficacy because you are witnessing first hand the benefits of your time. Some people would argue that helping the community doesn’t directly affect them so why should they bother. But this is actually the complete opposite! Everything that you do in your community is always directly or indirectly reciprocated to you. I started at an early age but it is never to late , for if I can do it than anyone can as well.
