A Subtle Impact

Martin Luther King Jr. was a man whose expectations were high, but that did not stop him from trying to make an impact. The society in which he had lived was brutal, cruel, and ignorant to believe in racial superiority. He was not one of the people who just took the abuse and did nothing about it; he made a difference and spoke his beliefs to the world. I know that I don’t nearly compare to Martin Luther King Jr., but I still believe I can make some sort of a difference in my community by helping my family, friends, and the people around me.

Currently, I am not very active in my community. I am a part of local sports teams, like track and basketball, but just being a part of a team doesn’t necessarily help out my community. I used to be a part of boy scouts. There were all types of fund raisers and activities that we took part in to help local society such as making sandwiches for the less fortunate and raking leaves for a local church. But boy scouts didn’t seem to entertain me so much, so I decided to quit a while ago. Since then, I haven’t been as active in the community as I should be. There are still some things I do to help out others such as donating food to local food pantries and donating old clothes and toys from when I was younger to charities. But otherwise, I am not necessarily as active in helping out my community as I wish to be, for I feel like I don’t have the time. I hope to change this over the next few years of high school as well as the rest of my life.

In order to pass each year of school, it is required that each student participates in at least 15 hours of community service. For my community service points this year, all I have done so far is participate in sports. I hope to work outside of school to get some hours of service, but I have not had the time so far to do this. The rest of my high school years, however, I will attempt to spend as much time as I can serving my community at local events. I will try to take part in events that interest me, so I will do my best as well as being interested in what I’m doing. Practicing community service skills now will help me become a decent and moral person in my future.

I know that I will probably never be able to make as much a difference in my community as Martin Luther King Jr. did in his. But what I do know is that I will try my best to make a lasting positive impact on those around me. Hopefully this impact will help my family and peers to become more ethical people, and maybe the subtle impact can make its way to people all around the world, and society can change and possibly become less cruel.