The Following is by Joshua

My son 14 year old son Joshua wrote the following paper. With his permission, I'm sharing it with all of you. When you're reading this, remember he is 14 years old. He may not have a complete understanding with the way things work, but he is on the right track. This paper shows so much about his character. He is growing to be a good young man.


Does My Generation Have a Role to Play in America's Future?

Some may ask me: Does my generation have a role to play n America's ever changing future? I would just nod and say yes because my generation is the next to fill America's offices of business and the empty seats of the Senate and the House of Representatives. We are the next to be in war but not the last to fall in an effort to defend this great country. America did not get the way it is now, easily. In the past, we faced countless challenges. Now, we face those and new, diverse challenges. Even in the future there will be challenges we face still today like health care, drugs and making sure the Senate is evenly balanced when it comes to deciding what's good, so that one group doesn't control the fate of this great country.

Health care I think is one of the first things that need changed. It should be in every one's top 5 list of importance. The secret to a good health care system is affordability; as not everyone can afford health coverage. The companies should lower the prices and the people could pay what they say they would pay. If health care happened to be affordable then less people would worry about getting sick and/or hurt and having to go to the hospital and be covered and not have every cent sucked out of your wallet or purse. Not all insurance companies are bad and selfish.  A few months ago I broke my arm and the insurance company my mom uses would not pay it because it happened out of state, but when that happened my dad gave the bill to the company he uses and they paid it. This is a big topic. If you think you can't make a difference in the area then think again. Even if you are 2 years old, everyone can make a difference whether if you don't get hurt or if you do, you can' make a difference. Maybe not on this topic, but there are plenty of things that need changed.

Take drug abuse for instance. There are so many drug addicts that I can't even count them all and I can count to 11,000; anything past that and I get really bored. There are so many ways to get drugs that people have stopped trying to to stop the problem. The only people doing anything about it is the FBI and the big city police. In small towns there isn't much of a problem but the cities and the drug junkies get what they want not need, want. The drugs don't just come from Mexico, they come from Africa, Russia, and even the US. there are some probably being grown in California. I speak that is how bad it is and it needs stopped now not later. NOW. If we can do something the we have done something to help stop this drug craze. Maybe the fact that so many are addicted to drugs that it is all they think about.

Another topic that is important to me is job loss and the economy. Many people have been affected by its crushing collapse, including me and many more in my home town. The fact that the oil spill in the Gulf Coast put thousands out of jobs is not helping much. Money is tight around us and other places that people are spending less and less and without that money circulating in the economy hurts it even more so. I say spend, spend, spend. I'm not talking about TVs or other luxury items. I mean necessities; food, clothes, junk like that to pump that much needed money back into the economy to help it grow, because $200.00 is not much when in other countries it would be a penny.

The US is not the only place with hardships. The whole world is in disarray with war, racism, and more.( should be less.) The war in Afghanistan is going to its 10th year and so far it's a draw on the only thing we should be focused on is home. The US that is where all of the main focus should be, not in some other country. The cost of the war has put this country way in dept.

so in the end, we are facing many problems and we still will. It won't be one day we are fighting a war that seems like it will never end. One day we are all buddy-buddy with that country. Then again that's how most wars end, but either way, conflict will still happen and those conflicts will turn into a great peace. So when disaster strikes we will all pitch in and maybe one day we will have world peace. My generation has one of the biggest roles to play in the future of not only America, but in the whole world.

Joshua Fuoss