Adults Should Also Write Their Way To The Top!

Canarsie organizations and elected officials are always sponsoring essay contests for our youths. I enjoy reading the topics at hand – such as, “What would you do to improve your community?”…“How would you ease racial tensions in your neighborhood?”…“How would you stop bullying?” and “Who inspires you to perform at your best?”

 

Essay contests are typically open to students who will receive an honor at some community event – like the Canarsie Bridges Festival. Some teens are honored by local councilmen and assemblymen – awarding the winners with scholarships, savings bonds and a citation for their well-written ideas and excellent display of civic engagement. 

Parents - get out your pen and paper!

The ideas some kids present are great when it comes to improving their community. However, their ideas aren’t tainted by political red tape and dead ends. We can only hope their experiences in school help them develop independent ideas that they can utilize when they become adults.

Ah…Adults… Whether you want to admit it or not they, or we, are a BIG part of the problem when it comes to improving our community. So why isn’t there an essay contest for older folks who need a lesson in civic and quality of life improvement?

To answer this question, I formally propose that civic leaders, politicians and other organizations host an essay contest for adults! Whether you know it or not – or agree with me or not – grown-ups need lessons in making our quality of life better, too!

We’re asking young people to conjure up ways of making their community a better place to live – but then you’ve got a disrespectful neighbor, who’s an adult, blasting music all hours of the night and blocking the sidewalk with their vehicle. You’ve got adults, who refuse to go to meetings and help make a difference, complaining about changes that need to be implemented! Then, you’ve got sloppy residents and local business owners who dump their trash anywhere they want and contribute to deplorable conditions. And we say what’s the matter with kids these days?

Let’s get real! If someone in the community hosted an essay contest for adults, they could use the following themes to get residents thinking about how bad they treat their community:

• “As a tenant/homeowner, I can stop being a nuisance to my neighbors by…”

• “I keep to myself instead of talking to my neighbors about what’s going on because…”

• “The excuses I make for not going to community meetings to help myself and my fellow neighbors includes…”

• “Instead of dumping my household trash somewhere it’s illegal and deplorable, I can…”

• “Instead of playing loud music in my home while having a get together during the summertime, therefore disturbing everyone on my block, I will…”

• “As a driver/pedestrian, I can help prevent accidents by…”

These are just a few essay topics that will get ADULTS to realize they can improve the neighborhood themselves – and that a lot of problems stem from THEIR lack of consideration.

What can adults get out of this literary challenge? I think many will come to realize just how hard it is to get their ideas on paper – and believe me, plenty of us need to brush up on our basic writing skills (remember, officials are asking YOUTHS, who are still in school and write all the time, to formulate their ideas. If you’ve been out of school for decades, you’re probably a little rusty when it comes to English 101). I also think an adult-only contest will generate ideas that are applicable in real life.

And what’s the incentive gonna be? I propose contest sponsors offer generous gift cards for various retail shops and restaurants, along with an honorable plaque that declares the residents’ selfless civic awareness.

Consider this - children who enter essay contests don’t yet own a home, pay a mortgage or deal with property taxes. They’re not paying for home renovations, so they don't feel the need to dump their old furniture and fixtures in the back of an alleyway and leave it there. Our youths are usually not the ones calling 9-1-1 or 3-1-1 about suspicious activity in a common driveway, stolen cars on their block and garbage pileups. Most of the problems here are caused by ADULTS and can only be solved by…ADULTS!

Sure, you want to train youngsters to think about their habits before they grow into that selfish mind frame. But let’s look at all of the people who can make a difference in the our community and get them to put their ideas on paper. I’m sure we’d get some interesting feedback from our neighbors on the “write” way to conduct ourselves!