Do Something!

By Sarah Markley

- Age 14, Boalsburg

The world is an amazing place full of unique and diverse people, breathtaking places, and extraordinary animals. Our lives seem truly blessed and wonderful as we spend each day learning about and exploring the world we live in. With all the material things we covet and obsess over, it’s no wonder we feel this way. We are so happy sometimes. We seem to forget all the people who don’t have the privilege to learn about and discover the planet in which we live.

We don’t often think about all the people dying form disease and starvation, or the people who are homeless and lonely because they lost loved ones to these diseases. The worst thing about it is, we are not doing nearly as much as we could to save all these lives.

This is one of the most important problems the world faces. I think this because it is so much more important than some of the other problems like illegal immigration (in my opinion, saving live is more important than people losing their job to someone who will work for less).

In Africa, thousands of adults and children are dying from starvation, malaria, and AIDS. It is a terrible thing that all of these good lives have to go to waste. Many children are abandoned because their parents died from disease. The children are forced to care for themselves and maybe their siblings if they have any, find food, and make enough money to get food. Some are working far too hard for a very meager pay.

People everywhere are reaching out to help these misfortunate children, but it is just not enough. It does not take much to save a life, just a little bit of money could buy the antidote to save a few lives of malaria victims. American Idol did something that really touched me, they donated mullions of dollars to the people who have poor living conditions and are dying of starvation and disease. I sincerely hope the show continues to do that every year, because they saved so many lives. People could also donate to the Salvation Army or the Red Cross. If everyone reached out, we Americans could save millions of lives.

Many children are not receiving proper education. They will never learn about the many marvelous places that fill our world. They will never get to see a picture of the many wonderful animals that roam the planet we live on, even the pleasures of books. Children will not be able to communicate as well if they can’t read and write. It is a terrible thing for any child not to know these things. There are not enough people donating money to schools.

Oprah Winfrey built a school for girls in Africa; I thought that was a very nice thing. If everyone who had the money to build or help a school did, there would be a considerable rise in educated children. So many more people would get to discover the wonders of our world.

Some people in our country are suffering pretty badly as well. Some of the people who lost their homes in hurricane Katrina are now living in crime-ridden trailer parks. Some people cannot afford heating in the winter, or barley have enough money to pay their taxes and still buy food for their families. Some people find it hard to believe that this sort of thing is going on in our country.

So many complicated problems our world faces can be solved by a simple thing, love. People just need to reach out and do something for the people that need it most, instead of thinking about themselves and what new video game they think they need. If people used their money and gave it to a starving person, they would save something much more valuable than a new MP3 player.

It concerns me that people are dying of something that is so easy to cure with just one shot. So, do something! Help those who need it! Save a life, love a little more, just do something.