"If you try, you will find it impossible to do one great thing. You can only do many small things with great love."

 

~ Mother Teresa  (1910 - 1997)

 

 

Essay Assignment: "If Everyone Cared"

 

 

Directions: Write a well-organized essay that includes an introduction, several paragraphs, and a conclusion. Use evidence from the document(s) and media in the body of the essay. When writing a DBQ, it is best to devote one paragraph for each document and be sure to identify the document at the beginning of each paragraph. Support your response with relevant facts, examples, and details. Include additional outside information and related concept words.(change, environment, choice)

 

Task: Margaret Mead once said, "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has."  Read the excerpt below from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s. sermon “The Drum Major Instinct” Explain the meaning of the excerpt and discuss how it relates to the essay themes of citizenship and empathy. Also explain the meaning of Pastor Martin Niemöller’s poem First They Came and The Legend of the Starfish. Remember to explain how both works are related to the essay themes as well. You must also discuss the meaning of Nickelback’s song “If Everyone Cared”. When discussing the song, be sure to identify an individual who appears in the music video and describe the actions he or she took to address a societal problem. Finally, select an issue that was represented in the music video, or you may write about an environmental, political or social problem that exists in our local community. Either way, you must describe what you have done in the past or what you and others can do now and in the future to remedy the problem.

 

 

"…If you want to be important—wonderful. If you want to be recognized—wonderful. If you want to be great—wonderful. But recognize that he who is greatest among you shall be your servant. (Amen) That's a new definition of greatness. And this morning, the thing that I like about it: by giving that definition of greatness, it means that everybody can be great, (Everybody) because everybody can serve. (Amen) You don't have to have a college degree to serve. (All right) You don't have to make your subject and your verb agree to serve. You don't have to know about Plato and Aristotle to serve. You don't have to know Einstein's theory of relativity to serve. You don't have to know the second theory of thermodynamics in physics to serve. (Amen) You only need a heart full of grace, (Yes, sir, Amen) a soul generated by love. (Yes) And you can be that servant...”

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. “The Drum Major Instinct”.  Sermon delivered at Ebenezer Baptist Church, Atlanta, Georgia, on 4 February 1968.

 

 

 

First They Came

 

First they came for the Communists, and I didn’t speak up,

because I wasn’t a Communist.

 

Then they came for the Jews, and I didn’t speak up,

because I wasn’t a Jew.

 

Then they came for the Catholics, and I didn’t speak up,

because I was a Protestant.

 

Then they came for me, and by that time there was no one left

to speak up for me.

 

Pastor Martin Niemöller (1892–1984)

 

Legend of the Starfish

 

A vacationing businessman was walking along a beach when he saw a young boy.  Along the shore were many starfish that had been washed up by the tide and were sure to die before the tide returned.  The boy was walking slowly along the shore and occasionally reached down and tossed a beached starfish back into the ocean.  The businessman, hoping to teach the boy a little lesson in common sense, walked up to the boy and said, "I have been watching what you are doing, son.  You have a good heart, and I know you mean well, but do you realize how many beaches there are around here and how many starfish are dying on every beach every day?  Surely, such an industrious and kindhearted boy such as yourself could find something better to do with your time.  Do you really think that what you are doing is going to make a difference?"  The boy looked up at that man, and then he looked down at a starfish by his feet.  He picked up the starfish, and as he gently tossed it back into the ocean, he said, "It makes a difference to that one."

 ~ Adapted from The Unexpected Universe. Harcourt, Brace & World, Inc. pp. 67-92. By Loren Eiseley ©1964.

 

 

If Everyone Cared

 

 

From underneath the trees, we watch the sky
Confusing stars for satellites
I never dreamed that you'd be mine
But here we are, we're here tonight

Singing Amen, I, I'm alive
Singing Amen, I, I'm alive

[Chorus:]
If everyone cared and nobody cried
If everyone loved and nobody lied
If everyone shared and swallowed their pride
Then we'd see the day when nobody died

And I'm singing

Amen I, Amen I, I'm alive
Amen I, Amen I, Amen I, I'm alive

And in the air the fireflies
Our only light in paradise
We'll show the world they were wrong
And teach them all to sing along

Singing Amen, I, I'm alive
Singing Amen, I, I'm alive
(I'm alive)

[Chorus x2]

And as we lie beneath the stars
We realize how small we are
If they could love like you and me
Imagine what the world could be

[Chorus x2]

We'd see the day, we'd see the day
When nobody died
We'd see the day, we'd see the day
When nobody died
We'd see the day when nobody died

 

NickelbackAll the Right Reasons ©2005

 

 

 

 

"It's not how much we give, but how much love we put into giving."

 

 

 

~ Mother Teresa  (1910 - 1997)

 

 

 

 

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