Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. 2010

Savanah has been growing so tall that at times like this the extent of her intellectual growth, most particularly writing, makes me in awe of my own little girl. This year she won 3rd place in the Martin Luther King, Jr. writing contest with the following entry. You are awesome Savanah!

Three Evils

I, as an individual, can help solve three evils in our society. These evils are described by Martin Luther King, Jr. as poverty, racism, and war. Poverty and racism can lead to war when these issues are ignored or disagreed on. I can help remove these three evils from our society by improving how I act among racially diverse groups and helping the poor.
According to Dictionary.com, poverty means: “the state or condition of having little or no money, goods, or means of support.” In order to help the needy I can do simple acts of service. For example, the people in my church have the opportunity to work at the Humanitarian Center. There I have made hygiene kits, to be given to poor families in other countries. I have also made school kits that include pencils, erasers, and paper. In addition to working at the Humanitarian Center, I have also helped the poor in a project at school. In my Spanish class, I worked on making shoe boxes for kids in Latin American countries for Christmas. My class and I first filled shoe boxes with toys, clothes, and candy, and then wrapped the boxes. This simple act of service will help let children know that somebody cares about them in this giving season.
“Racism” is a strong word that often coincides with “segregation”. I strongly oppose the existence of both. Racism is an evil that separates people from one another. In order to help stop the spreading of ideas of racism and segregation I can make an effort to treat everyone equally. Treating everyone equally goes along with poverty. In the 1800’s, of the United States, there was a lot of discrimination going around. Some white people had much prosperity while other races were left in the dust, scavenging for jobs. To stop segregation around me, I can treat everyone with respect and equality.
The last evil is the ultimate conflict between men: war. War happens when countries or people disagree. Two reasons that cause war to sprout are poverty and racism. War is hard to stop, but I can try to stop it by being peaceful at home, at school, and in my community. An example of trying to be a peace maker can be solving problems at home with my siblings. Being open-minded and being able to compromise can help both sides of the argument agree on a solution. This is one of many ways to stop a war from starting.
The three evils- poverty, racism, and war, are all connected. I see them all around the world. But as I work hard to try to stop the evils from growing larger and worse, I can help shrink them by doing my part. I, as an individual, can affect the world. All I need to do is act.

She is growing up, isn't she!