Essay Contest Winners 2004

2004 RTL Essay
Danielle Hansen
Grade 7th & 8th

A Life Well Lived

Today in our society many people have grown accustomed to practices that have ruined their lives and the lives of those around them. These destructive practices include divorce, abortion, euthanasia, drug use and suicide. In order to reverse this culture of death in our society, we must first reach out to others, embrace the sanctity of human life and mend the family unit.

Today our culture has a distorted outlook on life and has made it acceptable to focus solely on themselves. As a result of this view, teen suicide rates have tripled in the past three years. This year, more than 700,000 American teen-agers will attempt suicide. This not only destroys their own life, but also adversely affects the lives of other around them. If members of our society would practice the words given in James 1:27 and look after those who are in need, it could change their lives forever. We should hold firm and live transformed lives, and reject the views of the media, which promotes selfish desires and personal needs.

Another way we can reverse our culture of death is to embrace the sanctity of human life. If this occurred, the rates for drug use, abortion and suicide would dramatically decrease. A baby is aborted every 20 seconds. Many times, this is a result of women refusing to face the consequences of their poor decisions. Thus, they ignore the sanctity of human life given as a gift by our heavenly Father. If we reach out and help them in their traumatic situation and help give them hope, this could possibly help save someone who could grow up to live a meaningful life that would bring praise, glory and honor to God.

The last way we could reverse this culture of death is to mend the family unit. It is important that we look for ways to reverse the trend of families breaking up through divorce. We could do this by investing more time with each other. By simply sitting down to dinner once a week and taking time to talk to one another, we would develop closer relationships between members of the family. The more the family spends time with each other, the stronger the relationship would be.

People have become more self-centered and unwilling to help those in need. In order to reverse this culture of death in our society, we must first reach out to others, embrace the sanctity of human life and mend the family unit. You could make a dramatic change in someone's life today if you just make a few adjustments to your daily routine. Propose in your heart to put into practice the words of Philippians 2:4: "Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others."

2004 RTL Essay
By Munir Sayegh
Grade 9 & 10

The Tears of the Soul

"…People killin', people dyin', children hurt and ya hear them cryin', can you practice what you preach, and would you turn the other cheek? Father, Father, Father, help us send some guidance from above 'cause people got me, got me questioning - Where is the love?"

This song, "Where is the Love," by Black Eyed Peas is the summary of what the youth of America are contemplating. I believe that the only way to change this "culture of death" is to enlighten the new generation about corruption on the television, the sanctity of life and America's preoccupation with happiness.

First of all, there is too much advertisement of why having drugs, violence and sex in our lives is admirable. Some shows are more oriented to this new trend than others. "MTV lacks any redeeming social value. Many of its [programming] shows glorified alcohol and sex." Does MTV give anything back to the society it pollutes?" (Meredith U.). If the youth keep seeing these corrupt actions and their peers agreeing with it, they will assume that it is acceptable. It is a necessity for this culture to prevent the youth in America from seeing these shows. Parents and teachers need to show their disapproval of these shows and the ethics on them. The youth of this nation must be told of the lasting effects that these bad decisions that they see on TV could have on their lives.

Secondly, the sanctity of life is a significant element in changing this culture of death. Peggy Noonan states that, "Is it too much to see a connection between the abortion culture in which these young people came of age and the moral dullness they are accused of displaying? (A35) Abortion creates an "environment of death." When the youth hear of statistics like, since 1967 there have been 38 million surgical abortions in the United States (Abortion, par. 1), doing drugs or drinking seems so insignificant. If the adults of America approve of abortion then the youth will continue with equal or greater offenses. If we educate more people on the effects of abortion, then maybe more people will realize how outwardly immoral it is.

Finally, another change America needs to make is our preoccupation with happiness. According to the Orthodox Christian Church and Society, "Individual happiness as well as the community must be observed. If this balance is not respected, many social contradictions arise. We strive to achieve happiness without realizing that it is 'our' happiness, not 'mine'" (par. 2). We must stop this inclination of self-centeredness by encouraging the youth to embrace community service projects and by showing them the true meaning of "helping others" in our lifestyle. We also need to get the youth involved in short-term mission trips to show them that there are a lot of people worse off than us. It makes our "wants or happiness" seem so insignificant.

If we want to stop this culture of death, we must advise the new generation about corruption on the television, the sanctity of life and America's preoccupation with happiness. Remember the song "Where is the Love" and know that there are little sparks of resistance to this awful tendency , like people protesting against abortion, churches assisting the youth with their moral decisions, and shelters giving poor people help. The most important thing we can do is to show how this culture of death is hurting our future. We need to set a moral and ethical example for everyone, regardless his/her age, religion, nationality or race. The spark is there; all it needs is people to give it fuel.