Habitat for Humanity

Community service is important for many different reasons. However, that statement is a little too blunt to describe my personal expierence. I have had several previous voulunteer works, yet the one I did for my sociology class opened up my eyes in a new way. Sure I've voulenteered at some animal shelters and saw some pretty sad things, yet it didnt hit me the same was as when I went to go help out at habitat for humanity. Mabye I'm just more of a people person. Yet I will admit it was extreamly boring for the first few hours, and I was'nt too happy by the time I was painting my fourth wall after the first couple of hours. Around lunch time I was wiped after hours and hours of hard work. On top of that my shoulder was killing me from my water polo game the day before. Although something happend, the person whom was reciving the house stopped by and then it hit me, I was doing this work for someone less fortunate than I am. Then it became worth while, I saw a person who was equal to me, same DNA same genetics who needed a house. I realized that I was doing this for one of my own, that I now had a point in finishing as much as I could on the house. To provide for another human being made me open my eyes that poverty is so much closer than I ever really realized. Of course I always knew people like her existed, but it wasn't until I actually saw her that I developed some kind of attatchment to me. Its almost as if my duties as a human being decided to kick in and gave me a wake up call that shouted: "Stop sleeping, and go do your duty." I feel that if I would not have done this community service, that I would've not only failed sociology class, but more importantly I would have failed my duties as a social human being in the aspect of helping others.

Social Classes

In American Society there is the Pyrimidal structure. At the bottom there is all of the underclassmen who are just above the poverty line or below the poverty line. These people are the ones who put physical labor into building luxurios complexes or mansions. But if they put the effort into building these luxurious things then why dont they end up with their own creations? Its because the weatlh is so unequally distributed, and with little movement between classes there really is no chance that these underclassmen can imagine of them living a wealthy lifestyle. In the middle of the pyramid we have the working class. These are the people who live in suburbs in average size houses with dead end jobs. Eventhough they may work in the same place as the wealthy, their paychecks are nothing in comparison. And of course at the very tipy top of the pyramid we have the wealthy. We do not see much movement within this class because these people figure: why settle for anything less than the best?

However, there are some strayers who move social classes, my mother being one of them. Mostly growing up in a small town in Alaska, her family was very poor. And from coming out of high school, colllege opprotunities were bleak. She was classified as a part of the working class if not lower. Yet when she had me she decided to go back to college and get her degree. After college she married above her previous social class and moved up the social ladder. Changes like these though are not as common as they should be.