Good Life Award - Winners
2007
Good Life Award Writing Contest
Honorable Mention
Stephen Carlsten
9th Grade, Centerville High School
| "The World Needs a Little Good Here and There" Nobody ever said that life is easy. At every turn we take in the world there will be challenges, tests, and pressures that can judge who we will become. The road in our lives is a rocky one, but we can overcome the most difficult of tasks by reminding ourselves that being good, doing good, having fun, and being happy are all ingredients to a recipe for success in this society. To truly live by these ideas we must first know what good is, how we can be and do good, and how it all ties together. What is good? We hear it day to day, and it becomes just another word that is tossed around. Good is an idea that people in the world can live together and show compassion for one another. Good is the pinnacle of mankind’s actions towards one another. In our teenage years, our lives are a confused mess of discovering who we are. We often forget the side of us that is good, and ultimately who we really are, in order to pursue the dream of fitting in. Being good allows us to rise above this, and set a shining example of character for all of our peers to see. The common mistake is to think, "I can’t be good, I’m just a regular person." Being good doesn’t mean that we have to save the world, cure cancer, or be a hero. Being good is the simple things we do for each other every day. Sitting down with a lonely kid at lunch, opening a door for a handicapped individual, or even helping someone who has dropped their books. We all have the capability to be good people. Knowing that we can be good people, we must act on our good nature, and actually do good for other people. It is not enough to say, "I’m a good person, I don’t need to do anything." By exchanging kind acts for each other, it validates our character. Many people try to put on a disguise of good nature. They would like you to believe they do great things, but in reality they do nothing. We must strive to see the difference between what is doing good, and what is pretending to do good. You may ask yourself, "How can I ever be happy by spending all of my time on others?" What many people don’t realize is that being good and doing good, allows us to have the free conscious of being happy and having fun in everything we do. Having fun through putting others down is an illusion. Hate is a boomerang, whatever we send out will always come back on us. By living as good people, we can set ourselves free and live life to the fullest. Dottie Yeck said that being good plus doing good will equal having fun and being happy. She could not have been more right. |