Critique please.

Choose an issue of importance to you—the issue could be personal, school related, local, political, or international in scope—and write an essay in which you explain the significance of that issue to yourself, your family, your community, or your generation.

The rap on this generation is that we demand instant gratification and to a

certain extent the speed in which technology is advancing allows for that.

Unfortunately my generation has become known as the "gimme gimme gimme"

generation rather than asking for and always getting. I think it's time we step

back and look at the obvious; the obvious being "giving" rather than "getting"

all the time. This opens up the opportunity for giving back to the community

through community service.

Everyone rich or poor has taken from society. For my family it is the emotional

support that we have been receiving due to the aftermath of my mother's death.

it had never occurred to us that we were being remunerated for our investments

that we had made within the community, the tables had turned and we were now

the family in need. From the outside looking in you can't understand just how

thankful the inhabitants within the house are. From the inside looking out you

can't seem to manifestate the words of gratitude that you so dearly want to

express. Eden home a organization I had volunteered with before was now at our

disposal. They taught us how to emotionally and physically take care of my mom

during her last few breaths. They instructed us on how exactly administer

morphine, they advised us on to say in case she should wake in the middle of

the night; as if that would have ever happen, the morphine had knocked her out

cold.

Along the way into our transition into adulthood my generation has seemed to

have forgotten our roots. As children I can remember being willingly spoon fed

the concept of an ideal society, children would say "yes mam and yes sir,"

doors would automatically fly open for any elder as if by their mere presence

the hinges would unfold; good o'l southern hospitality! These ideas were the

base in which we lived by, so would it have not have made sense for us to add

to the base as we got older? The elders that we respected so much as children

are now living in nursing homes across the country, no longer immediately

available to command the respect that they so rightfully deserve. It is nothing

short of amazing having the opportunity to converse with them. "Although for

some reason people assume it is so painstakingly hard to seek them out and do

so." They thrive on being contacted by the outside world, be it their children,

a grandchild, or a complete stranger, the gleam in their eyes is always the

same. They affected me in a way that I wish every member in my class could have

been affected; consequently these touching people were probably their

grandparents.

I look at the hours that I have put into helping those around me and think

nothing of the number, they are merely hours; they maybe a number to brag about

for some, but for me they symbolize every person I have aided. Hour number

twenty-six was Edna, who now lives in the eternal garden that she always

dreamed of. Hour sixty was Maricela, a cancer patient who needed help making

her doctor bills. My hours are names, people with a story, people that

whispered to me just how much they missed running barefoot towards their ranch,

or how much they would like to have two breasts. Their wishes may not have come

true, but I was there to listen, and in the end that is what they craved.