“Somewhere we must come to see that human progress never rolls in on the wheels of inevitability. It comes through the time and persistent work of dedicated individuals who are willing to be co-workers with God. Without this hard work, time itself becomes an ally of the primitive forces of social stagnation and irrational emotionalism. We must help time and we must realize the time is always right to do right.” – Martin Luther King, Jr. (March 17, 1966, speech at Southern Methodist University).

Social Media

I have given in to social stagnation through the bystander effect. The bystander effect states that if someone needs help in a crowd of people, instead of helping, people will think to themselves that someone else will help them. This is a highly prevalent effect that appears daily, without us noticing. This especially happens online because any post on social media is its own crowd of people. If someone says something hateful in a comment section, instead of reporting it, I, and many others, will just keep scrolling. To not fall into this effect, I have been trying to participate more and be more active whenever I can. – Eli K. (’27)

Kindness

In today’s world, there has been a lack of kindness, whether its between the worker at Target and a customer or friends at school. People are naturally focused on themselves more than others. We focus on things that will make us happy such as money, popularity, and good relationship statuses. Kindness is a receive-and-give type of relationship because, for someone to feel motivated to be kind, they need a nice act of kindness given to them. That’s why, if we all join hands together to become more patient and kinder, the world may become a better place. Money is used to buy things we want really badly, which then make us happy, but only for a small period of time. Something that took me so long to see is that the things that make us happiest are the things that do not have a price put on them. You have to be grateful for the good in your life and the people who make you smile because there is no price on long-lasting happiness. – Bree G. (’27)

I’m committed to being the best I can be. I think by doing good deeeds and being kind to everyone it could help humans be better people. When someone does a kind act, it will encourage other people to do the same. It’s so easy to be nice and friendly, and doing good deeds doesn’t cost much. One time, I was in the Starbucks drive through. I go to the window to pay, and the worker tells me that the car in front of me paid for me. I was so touched and happy I passed it along and paid for the car behind me. – Adira L. (’27)

Environment

Throughout my whole life, I’ve been taught about how global warming is a result of all the pollution we have made. Recycling is one solution to help lessen the pollution. I do my best to recycle, but I often end up throwing my trash in the garbage. I think that one plastic item won’t make anything worse, but I’m ignoring everything I’ve learned by throwing everything away instead of recycling. -Cate W. (’27)

A big way people can help the world is by not being a bystander. You can’t just sit on your couch and eat take-out in their styrofoam containers. You gotta take action. Even if you just use re-usable dishware and not plastic, the garbage won’t all go into the ocean. I think that people should recycle. But more importantly, people need to stop being so self-centered and money-hungry. They just need to let the world breathe and help by doing just one thing for it. Like me: I always use reusable plates and silverware and bottles and always recycle.  – Livi S. (’27)

Alcohol and Drugs

I think the biggest problem I have seen other people struggle with is alcohol and drugs. As a teen in this generation, they’re everywhere and many people are under peer pressure and that can lead to dangerous situations. As people get more and more addicted, I think the problem will get harder to stop. It is such a big problem and can be a big risk to someone’s health. I think that the problem is so huge and it will be very difficult to resolve, but I think the first step should be making it more inaccessible. There are many more steps to resolve this problem of reckless drinking and smoking, and we need to devise a plan.  – Dalia F. (’27)

Unhoused People

Hard work towards human progress that I will do is when I see homeless people and I have some money, I will lend it to them. This is important because maybe these homeless people are hungry and that $5 will feed them for the whole day. This could lead them to getting jobs and having more of a chance to thrive. – Zander F. (’27)

I think that a big problem that we see in our day-to-day lives is homelessness. Something we can do to get to the roots of this problem is by donating and volunteering. For example, last year in 8th grade, I helped by making food at People Assisting the Homeless  (PATH). This was a way of feeding people and making them feel happy. -Oren Z. (’27)

A problem in our world that everyone sees every day is the excessive amount of homeless on the streets. This problem is not something only one person can solve, but if everyone puts in a little effort and helps, we can resolve the problem. A way that I could help is to spread more awareness of this problem to my community and then the message will spread. Everyone can give money to make more shelters and give food to help fix everyone’s problems. – Hannah S. (’27)