Read & React Teens Voice Their Opinions On Issues In The News As Part Of The Young Columbus Essay Contest
The November ice storm may have cooled off the number of entries to this year’s Read and React contest, but it didn’t effect the quality.
While only 50 teens from throughout the Inland Northwest entered the opinion-writing contest, it was just as competitive as years past when the contest attracted about 150 entries. Entrants were instructed to pick an issue from the pages of the newspaper, then craft a 250-word opinion piece on the issue.
Five finalists were chosen for their fine writing and reasoning skills, and then proceeded to make life very hard for five Spokesman-Review judges who had to choose one winner.
Each of the five writers had a 10-minute interview, answering questions about their interests, beliefs and teen issues. Debbie Polzin, a junior at Lewis and Clark, emerged victorious, and Anande Urio, an LC senior, was the runner-up.
Polzin, who has been a member of the Chase Youth Commission for three years, will go to Ireland this spring with about 100 other young adults from throughout the country as part of the program sponsored by the Spokesman-Review and Parade Magazine. She’ll serve as an ambassador for Spokane and promises to give Our Generation a report on her return.
Congratulations to all the finalists for their hard work and wisdom. Here are the winning essays that brought them head and shoulders above the rest.
BY DEBBIE POLZIN/LEWIS AND CLARK
“Teachers Schooled in Sexual Self-Defense,” an article reporting the efforts of Spokane School District officials to safeguard educators against sexual misconduct charges, is yet another example of a society that demonstrates an abandonment of humanistic sensitivities.
We have reached a painful climax, where “an encouraging pat on the back” or time spent one-on-one, if only to give a student extra help, could be interpreted as sexual advances. A six-year-old boy kisses a little girl on the cheek, a theme portrayed in many a classic painting, has suddenly been mutated into sexual harassment.
Rather than reveling in the sweet innocence of children amidst a harsh world, administrators punish the little boy for “student-to-student sexual harassment” by expelling him from the class ice-cream party, as well as inflicting a day-long suspension from school.
The wicked irony in all of this is that scientific studies have shown a lack of physical touch can be physically and emotionally damaging to healthy child development, as shown in a study conducted with ape mothers and their children. A “control” group was allowed to express affection as normal and a second group of ape children were isolated in rooms without any physical attention. The results were detrimental, some fatal, to the abandoned children.
Affection is a very necessary part of human development - a basic need. In our society, physical touch is our expression of affection. By taking excessive license in the interpretation of sexual harassment offenses, we make children the victims.
BY ANANDE URIO/LEWIS AND CLARK
When it’s cold outside, there are few comforts more enjoyed than those which are often taken for granted; a hot bubble bath, or breakfast in a warm kitchen. Snow and rain, ravaged trees and bitter cold made the week of the ice storm dismal, but those few days I spent without heat and hot water helped me to see warmth of a different sort.
I saw it for the first time during my commute to school one morning. A frazzled mother on her way to a shelter stood at the bus station with several cold and grumpy children. One elderly woman, touched by their situation, took off her wool gloves and tugged them over the tiny, red hands of the smallest girl.
The child’s shy “thank you,” and the pleasure in the giver’s smile as she went on her way, gave me a bright and pleasant thought to hold onto throughout the day.
Once I began looking, I noticed that small acts of kindness like these abound. It’s heartening to see how the absence of everyday amenities makes us more anxious to share gifts of compassion. It made me stop and take stock of my situation and realize that I am, in fact, very fortunate. I have a roof over my head, I am never hungry and not often cold.
And though spending nights under heavy blankets isn’t pleasant, I was able to find a silver lining. I felt the more lasting warmth that comes from kindness.
BY KATHLEEN LUPO/CENTRAL VALLEY
A government that ignores its people? How could a country deny the existence of its subjects? We live in a country whose government institutions did just what I have said.
The Department of Veterans Affairs recently stated that Gulf War Veterans are as healthy as you and I are. Unfortunately, the VA forgot to include a few thousand cases in their study. The VA blames their computers, but they did have other ways of getting all the needed information to make a correct, informed observation.
One way of getting the information could be to crawl inside the dusty old file cabinets, sweep away the cobwebs and pull out many veterans’ files containing information on their medical history, past and present. This method may be long and tedious, but it still would have given the correct data to perform the task with perfection.
Another opportunity the VA had was to compare records with the Defense Department, which has also been collecting data on Gulf War-related illnesses since 1991. Neither department has attempted to consolidate their records.
The facts clearly say that the Department of Veterans Affairs chose to exclude honest, hard working Americans from the study. By excluding cases, the VA is dissenting the reality of several thousand people plagued by health problems.
This is a country for the people. The fact that pure laziness or twisted politics and government cost has caused individuals to live unacknowledged and betrayed by fellow compatriots is a travesty that should be quickly corrected.
BY MELISSA STEEN/ROGERS
Donald Stratton said, “It’s kind of a ritual thing” to go back to Pearl Harbor to honor those who died. The soldiers and sailors who died at Pearl Harbor didn’t sacrifice their lives in my life time, not even in my parents’ life time, but their sacrifice changed the history of the world.
Had it not been for the attack Dec. 7, 1941, the United States may not have entered World War II until much later, if ever. The outcome of the war and possibly the politics of the world could be much different today.
President Roosevelt said that because of the events at Pearl Harbor, Dec. 7 would “live in infamy.” He was wrong. I have not learned about Pearl Harbor in school. I have never even heard of the USS Arizona before I read the articles in the Spokesman Review.
To my generation, Pearl Harbor is just a name of a dusty battle fought sometime during one of the wars. That is a shame.
We should never forget important events in our history like Pearl Harbor. Events like this changed our lives years before we were born. People we never knew died so kids of my generation would, hopefully, not have to.
I feel that even though this year’s reunion of the survivors of Pearl Harbor may be the last, we should always keep their memories alive. They need to be handed on to the next generation as memories, not dusty facts from history.
BY LYDIA SMITH/LEWIS AND CLARK
The U.S. Army was shocked when thousands of female soldiers reported incidents of sexual misconduct following a recent sex scandal at Aberdeen Proving Ground. Recognizing sexual harassment only in the military is not enough, because our whole society is accustomed to it.
Like racism, harassment has been taught, ignored and tolerated. It occurs in jobs, schools, athletics, government and the military.
Sexual harassment is like a weed; if not pulled out by the root, it will reappear. The root problem is the persistent perception of women as incapable and inferior.
I have grown up surrounded by such attitudes. As a young girl, I saw boys get more attention and priority. I see sexual harassment at school when inappropriate jokes and verbal abuse are not confronted. Girls are use to disrespect from boys.
Teen-age girls want attention from boys, but often don’t receive it without tolerating harassment. If a girl defends herself, boys are intimidated. If she is tolerant, she loses self-confidence. So a girl has to choose - rarely can she have the boys’ respect and retain high self-esteem.
I am not surprised when a young woman endures sexual harassment in the military, because she has done so her whole life. Once again, she has to decide if she will put up or lose out.
When influential adults teach young boys that it is wrong to treat girls disrespectfully and give girls and boys equal importance, society’s tolerance of sexual harassment will cease.