Phillips, Jessica

Professor Watkins
English Comp 2 TR 10:30 am
2/2/2019

Making a Positive Impact

A successful community has several characteristics that keep its residents and visitors

happy; however, a rare community leaves no one behind. Making a positive impact towards the

vulnerable part of my community is something I have been doing for the last four years.

I feel that as a species, humans have too much noise distracting them from what matters

the most. Charles Foster makes a strong point in his writing “If You Were an Elephant”. He

believes that animals are better at having communities than we are (Foster, 2017.)

Perhaps one of the reasons we’re so keen to deny non-human creatures minds,

consciousness and personhood is that, if they’re people, they’re embarrassingly

better people than we are. They build better communities; they live at peace with

themselves and aren’t, unlike us, actively psychopathic towards other species.

We are busy and often lazy with a bystander apathy when it comes to helping others.

There is said to be strength in numbers but, in a group as large as a community who is

going to act first? We can expect an elephant to do it. These animals display several

layers of conscientious thought often going as far as to bury their dead and mourn

together. We reserve a good portion of our lives to be lived in private, happy or sad.

Another interesting characteristic about elephants is that they will go out of their way to
help the more vulnerable ones in their group, even if it takes walking miles to find food

and water or take care of their sick.

On a larger scale, there are thousands of vulnerable humans who can use more

than a few helping hands. There is a reason the word philanthropy has such a high-class

ring to it though. We think it is only for the rich. My first reaction to Andrew Youn’s “3

Reasons Why We Can Win the Fight Against Poverty” was the desire to go to sub-

Saharan Africa. Then came the crushing realization that I would not be able to afford to

travel there on my own dime. I also did not have the skills to make it worthwhile.

Andrew points out “We have super computers in our pockets, went to the moon, but have

left one billion people behind” (Youn, 2016.) This makes my heart hurt because the goal

to feed the hungry is such a highly achievable one. Out of the three levers Andrew talks

about pulling to help the population of sub-Saharan Africa, not one of them is out of

reach. Africa might be a little far for us, but the reality is that we can help feed the hungry

and vulnerable in our very own communities.

Meals on Wheels is a program that has been introduced to many communities

throughout our nation. A unique collection of donations and government funding makes

it possible to deliver hot meals to the elderly right down the street. Throughout the last

four years, I have taken several clients from Mpower to go on route with me to deliver to

houses. This is an amazing opportunity for the givers and the receivers. My clients and I

learn the power of giving and go home knowing we did something good for the day. The

receivers get a hot meal and do not have to stress about cooking or going out into town.

While the elderly can be quite shut in, this opportunity gives them a chance to be social
as well. In my experience, I am on a first name basis with most of these individuals and

know quite a bit about them

While we are not elephants and may not be rich enough to sponsor ourselves a

trip to Africa, we can be humble enough to help the person down the street. If we are to

change the world for the better, I believe we must have strong communities first. Making

a positive impact towards those in our community is highly rewarding and something I

have strived to do for the past four years.

Youn, Andrew. “3 reasons why we can win the fight against poverty.” Youtube, uploaded

by TED, 6 July 2016, www.youtube.com/watch?v=wlR1ojoiue0.

Foster, Charles. “If You Were an Elephant ...” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media,

19 Jan. 2017, www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/jan/19/if-you-were-an-

elephant-.