Isaac Meyer Mrs.

Bennett 11AP English 14 March 2012 Argumentative Essay on Sanders (individual-community) REVISED There is unseasonable warmth in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco, California on a winters day. The park is packed as people vacate their apartments to enjoy this rare and glorious batch of sun. The throngs of people include few groups and some may not know a single other there besides themselves; is this a broken community? Sanders asserts that a direct connection must be made among a large majority of a community in various magnitudes for one to be successful. This statement is entirely misleading because in making it Sanders ignores the many examples of cities thriving today and denies the individual his liberty to determine his own level of association or disassociation. One argument made is that the addition of too many individuals in a community who are purely self-motivated will lead to its destruction (Sanders Line 16-21). This is certainly untrue because communities can still thrive without the direct involvement of such loiterers. On the warm San Francisco day merely a walk away is China Town. Immigrant towns such as this prove the stamina of a community with a large number of people who have no intent to participate all around. With Sanders reasoning, these towns should have perished long ago of the bountiful apathy directed at them. In reality, they have thrived in their seclusion from and ignorance of those who do not wish to aid in their progression. Communities are living organisms that can adapt to the benign tumors that Sanders describes as deadly. The other

interest that plays an active role in this debate pertains to that of the individual who is the base unit and contributor to a community. Sanders relates a metaphor of threads that tug at one while holding them up (21-23). The flaw in this belief is the likeliness of members to become too overcommitted. Too many threads tugging at one could tear her to pieces. A community that overemphasizes involvement leaves its members feeling inadequate in their basic physical inability to compete with the fabricated image of a perfect citizen. These stresses can lead to unnecessary depression and tension among individuals. It also deprives them of the freedom of choice. The ability to make decisions for ourselves, whether calculated or not, is one of our greatest abilities as humans. A community that is overbearing will take away this personal ability and limit free thinking. This is why America has shied away from institutions such as Communism where such an intense command to contribute to your nation often leads to the loss of an ability to say I want out. In our modern system any member of the populous has the ability to become a complete hermit if one so desires, which allows those of the participating division to make progress without the impediments of the unwilling. At this park in San Francisco people eat and play and walk their dogs. Some of them do not care to talk to anyone and would rather simply enjoy the day for themselves among their own thoughts. Others made a date of it, planned a study group with friends, planned a picnic, or decided it would be nice just to get out and talk. The many sub-groups and individuals represent one larger successful community. The presence of the apathetic is essential to its variety and in no way tarnishes its vitality.