Shawn J Essay 2

Shawn Jennings

September 28, 2014

Professor Young

English 1100

Essay 2

Problems within my Community

                I live in a small community of Pompton Lakes that is about three square miles.  By living in a small community there are a lack of places to hang out.  There are a limited number of areas for teens to go because unlike adults most are unable to drive out of town to experience new thrills.  From being unable to leave town and the lack of entertainment options, teens find excitement in making poor choices.  The insignificant amount of spots to hang out in my community causes kids, mainly teenagers, to do illegal activities.  Such law-breaking activities include drinking, experimenting with drugs, and petty crimes.     

                My hometown of Pompton Lakes is a very small community.  There are about six hundred high schoolers in total.  Many students have pride in their hometown, but almost all agree that it is too small.  They find themselves always wondering what to do because having a community so small there is almost nothing new to see.  You are able to walk around the entire town of Pompton in one day, which cannot be said for our bordering towns like Wayne or Oakland.  So many students want to explore new places and try new things.  They feel that their town is boring while another town could be exciting.  So I feel we need to make our small town of Pompton Lakes more exciting to the youth.  This way they will find new things to do within the community and not cause any trouble because they are not struck by boredom. 

                One of the main problems in my community is underage drinking.  When teenagers drink heavy amounts of alcohol they tend to become reckless.  Drinking impairs the mind, especially a teenager’s mind, which causes them to destroy property, like bending or breaking street signs or littering the streets with empty beer cans.  Many parties end in disaster because most teens get too drunk to realize what their actions are.  Usually the house where the party is being hosted gets demolished by reckless teens.  Above all, minors put themselves in danger when drinking.  The amount of teen deaths related to being intoxicated has reached staggering numbers and the death toll keeps rising every day.

                There are many ways to solve underage drinking.  One of which would be to make alcohol more difficult to obtain.  Pompton Lakes could make liquor stores do more in depth background checks on customers to decide if it is appropriate to sell alcohol to them.  This way alcohol will never fall into the wrong hands.  Another way to resolve minors from drinking is to create more hang out spots.  This way teenagers would not be as bored, therefore they would not have the need to drink alcohol for fun.  If these methods do not work teens tend to turn to drugs after abusing alcohol. 

                Many teenagers experiment with drugs after using alcohol.  They get bored of being drunk and need a different feeling to pick them up.  Teenagers turn to marijuana as a gateway drug to get high.  Then they begin to use more hardcore drugs such as meth, heroin, or cocaine.  The majority for the use of drugs is because of boredom.  A significant number of teens need activities to distract them from turning to bad influences. 

                These activities could include movie nights and playing in or attending a sporting event.  The community could get together and form a special night to go out and see a movie like “The Maze Runner” or play a pick-up game of any sport.  Many teenagers could attend these activities to occupy them instead of going to a party to get high.  This could also make the town of three square miles feel like a lively community.  More activities within Pompton makes the town more interesting so the teens would not feel the need to leave and cause mischief.  Teens could be looked after at these events and not cause any trouble.  More events in town equals more teens occupied which means less time to cause trouble. 

                After turning to drugs for a high many teenagers get addicted to the feeling.  They spend so much money to try to attain drugs that they become broke.  After, losing all their money they begin to commit petty crimes like stealing from department stores to sell the items for money.  Stealing also serves as entertainment for teenagers because of the lack of things to do in the community.  They find stealing, thrilling and entertaining because it is something different to do besides sitting around and doing nothing.  Many local stores within Pompton tend to go out of business because of the amount theft that takes place.  When stores close their doors the building that was once a thriving establishment begins to become rundown.  It becomes an eyesore within the community and soon the closing of other stores spread like a plague throughout the town square.  It is disturbing to see what was once a busy town square turned to rubble because teenagers need money to get high.     

                Ways to resolve this problem include to step up law enforcement in department stores.  If just one teen gets caught stealing it could scare any other teenagers who were thinking of breaking the law.  Another way to enhance catching teens in the act of stealing would be to install more cameras in department stores.  This could be essential in catching teenagers in the act of stealing.  An alternative way to keep teens from stealing would be to establish recreation centers in my community.  This would allow teens to go to a single place to hang out and play sports together.  Having a place to do something fun and exciting would decrease the number of teens who get into trouble by being bored.  Many juveniles steal for the thrill.  Pompton Lakes could replace the thrill of stealing with the thrill of playing a sport or hanging out with friends in one place like a recreation center.  This eliminates the problem of having a lack of hang out spots.

                My community of Pompton Lakes is small and boring now, but there are many things that can be done to improve its excitement.  There are not many place to go and have a good time without causing trouble, but that can all be changed by adding a few improvements.  Any small improvement made could help teens find something exciting to do within the confines of their own community.  They could be given the choice to make a good choice for a thrill instead of making bad choices for the thrill of getting caught.  Giving teens a choice can make all the difference in the end.