Written in: Grade 7 | Year: 2010
Jesse is like every other teenager: she dreams of graduating from high school, attending prom and then going off to college but she may never achieve these dreams because her family doesn’t have the money to pay for them. They are not homeless but with only little over $100 a month and many children to feed, they are forced to go to food banks and charities for help. Meanwhile, Alicia is relaxing beside her pool, the only thing on her mind being her vacation wardrobe. To her, college is just another place where you make friends and learn useless things and she knows that her parents can pay for whichever one she chooses to go to. Her parents give her everything so she is literally without a care in the world.
Good morning/afternoon judges, teachers, and fellow students, I am here today to talk to you about living rich or poor and how it affects the lives of kids. If you noticed, there was a big difference between Jesse’s life and Alicia’s. Alicia has everything and Jesse has close to nothing. Alicia is content while Jesse is constantly worried. There are many other differences but first you may be wondering, “How do people become so rich or poor?” Well, sometimes it’s because of family. Other times it’s because they worked hard while others didn’t.
Poverty infects every part of a kid’s life from family and friends, to school, to dreams for the future. In a household like Jesse's, where most of the money is spent on food, kids depend on friends to have fun. Unfortunately, when you're in need of money, you move a lot to find the best paying job, so it’s hard to makes friends. Also, some kid’s will not want to associate with them because they are poor and in my opinion, that’s really mean because they might be just as fun as a rich kid. Kids who live in poverty are more likely to get sick and perform poorly in school because of poor conditions and because they are always worrying about their family’s situation. Growing up, these kids will also have more mental health problems and will usually earn less because of their lack of education. Like Jesse, many people do not have a chance at higher education because their money goes to paying for rent and food.
Now I’d bet all of you would love to be rich, right? But rich living isn’t all “Oh, I have everything and everyone loves me.” With the right upbringing, you can use it to your advantage but most parents, like in Alicia’s case can’t help but spoil their children because they want them to be happy but they don’t think about the effects it has on a child later on in their life. They don’t think about how the money will eventually run out and when it does, their children suffer. If Alicia ever tries to get a job, she will not be prepared for today’s competitive job market and she will not know what to do when things don’t go her way.
In conclusion, I’m trying to say that you should always work hard and try to achieve the best you can whether you're rich or poor. Like people for who they are and not how much they can spend. If you have a lot of money, instead of going out and spending it, you can donate money to people who don’t have the opportunities you do. Even up the world and make yourself happy that you’ve done something to help. Some examples of good non-profit charities to donate to are the Salvation Army and Free the Children. Remember, what goes around comes around which basically means if you help them now, then in the future, someone will help you when you're in need. Thanks for listening to my speech.
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