Community Essay, Research Paper

The Individual and the Community

Bill Bove

Eng. 101

Evertson

T – R

0825

Man, I?m Glad I Eat With Utensils.

The concept of community has been with us since man was first able to exploit the use of

his opposable thumbs. Think about it, your name?s Og, a handsome young Cro-Magnon

that has just figured out that thumbs are pretty cool things. So, as your basking in the

delight of the discovery of your new found friends, out of the mist walks Zog, head down

transfixed at his new found playthings. Since language has yet to be invented, you smile at

each other in delight of the discovery you both have made. Perhaps this is where the

motioning of thumbs up is now meant all is well, but that is a tangent best not addressed

here. Since both of you are now bipedal and have learned to overcome the pitfalls of those

more gravitationally challenged, another commonality exists. YOUR HUNGRY!!!! As a

convoluted cerebral cortex is still a few years away, you answer your growling tummy in

the only way you know how, ?kill something?, or thoughts to that effect because

remember, you don?t have any language skills yet. Come on, your still tripping on those

wiggly things on the inner parts of your hands. So this is where the spirit of community is

first realized, its much easier to enlist the help of Zog to kill something big and tasty, than

to be involuntarily vegetarian another day. Years pass and the community in which you

live is becoming more and more complex, heck you even invited a guy named Shemp (his

parents were very progressive) to the group because he brought this nifty thing called fire.

Now, meat is pretty damn swell, but eating it tar-tar all these years brought about a bit of

culinary stagnation, and this newest members contribution did not go unrecognized.

Shemp also seemed to have a few more wrinkles in his brain than did his thick browed

counter parts so he was deemed the leader of the newly evolving clan. This brings even

more complexity into the community because now we are forming class structures. This

continues on for thousands of years and low and behold we have a huge city with all the

problems and concerns of modern day. My point to all this is that the ideal of community

is timeless. But the ideas upon which communities function change with the ever

increasing complexity within that specific group. I don?t think an Aboriginal tribe from the

African planes has the same concerns and issues that we do. However; that common

thread of community runs through both of us. The ideals upon which communities are

based are not tangible items, they are timeless commonalities, a spiritual sense, if you will.

The ideas of community are much different. I believe these parallel directly, the forward

progress of ourselves, and with that, the restructuring and redefining of a societal whole.

I?m convinced our ideas of community will remain in a constant state of flux for as long as

humankind is the dominant species on the planet.

Today Is A Good Day To Be Alive

It started off as any other beautiful Sunday Spring day, Light puffy clouds in the sky and

still the slightest bite to the air to remind us that Winter had left not long ago. The day had

been dragging on and boredom had reared its ugly head. My roommate at the time, a six

foot five, three hundred twenty pound hulk of a man and myself set out to do some four

wheeling in my Jeep to quell the boredom bug. A bit of background is necessary before

continuing. Gene and myself were neophyte paramedics hungry to save the world and

keep the grim reaper in check. We were not ?Ricky Rescues?, a term used loosely in the

trade to describe someone as being a tad overzealous to commit there acts of unselfish

goodness. ?Ricky Rescues? carry a plethora of tools off duty in there P.O.V?s (personally

owned vehicles) to carry out there remarkable acts of ?heroism?. I?ve nothing against this

breed, but after twenty four hours of saving lives you would think they?ve gotten their fill.

I?m not going to look the other way if you end up in a patch of bad luck, but it had better

be a pretty big patch. If you fall off your bike and end up with some shredded knees, damn

the blood, I?m outta there. ?Ricky Rescue? however would have his mobile I.C.U. with

him and be orgasmic at the chance to treat you. I carry a pocket mask and a pair of gloves.

If you?re definitely in the big patch I?ll be there, but as soon as the hired help arrives, I?m

outtee. Been there done that does not began to personify my career. Big hulking Gene

follows those same ideals as well. If I?m hurt though, I would definitely want him taking

care of me. We we?re out at the river creeping over hills and ruts just having a good old

time but soon this got tiresome and we got hungry so we headed home. The Jeep was

filled with idle chatter as we drove up Power Road to get to the freeway. Suddenly Gene

told me to turn around and said ?I think we?ve got something pretty bad over there?.

Remember, Gene is no ?Ricky Rescue?. If something is bad enough to catch his eye, its

bad. I made a U- turn and could not believe what I saw. A smoking mass of twisted steel

that lay motionless, defeated by the wall it had impacted. Around the car a small group of

about ten people. We both felt the rush of Adrenaline as we got into life saving mode. As

we jumped out of the Jeep we identified ourselves as paramedics and began to assess the

situation. I?ll never forget this, someone from the crowd said ?Thank God the paramedics

are here? we both looked at each other and raised an eyebrow in silent agreement of how

cool that was. Well this chap had definitely found the big patch of bad luck and fate or

devine intervention had brought us together. Gene and I were a seamless life saving

machine. I say machine because you don?t think in situations like this, you react and fall

back on your training. There really was no remarkable trauma on the man. He was

wearing his seatbelt and it appeared most of the energy from the impact was taken on the

passenger side. After we had him out of the car we started C.P.R. because all I had was

my pocket mask and some gloves. What I wouldn?t give to be a ?Ricky Rescue? right now

and have some of my A.L.S. gear with me. Gene crunched on his chest and I breathed for

him for what seemed an eternity. Then the faint whine of sirens began to fill the air. The

fire department finally arrived and we knew the crew, so they kept us included while

working him. It turned out that they only had one medic on the truck so it wasn?t just

professional courtesy it was necessity. Finally, with the arrival of the fire truck came the

A.L.S. gear. I can now provide this man some truly definitive care. The seen flowed, three

paramedics buzzing around one person all with one collective thought -BEAT THE

REAPER-. I intubated , Gene got the I.V., and Ron (the Mesa medic) Defibrillated. After

we got some drugs onboard and one more dose of Edison medicine we actually got a

pulse back and spontaneous respiration. HOLY SHIT!!! we actually saved this guy. He

remained tubed because although he was breathing on his own, it was only 4-6 a minute

and we needed to supplement his breathing with a B.V.M. The ambulance arrived and Ron

rode off to the hospital with our ?save?. Gene and I high fived each other and rode home

silent with big grins on our face. Nothing needed to be said. The next day I was on duty so

I made it a point that if I got the hospital he was staying at I?d pop in and see how he was

doing. Well to my surprise he was doing great. I don?t normally check in on patients

because it gets to personal. What is normally a body we work on and do our best to save

became a husband, a father and a grandfather. I stuck my head through the door to see a

room filled with family, and introduced my self. He sat up and told me his name. Now the

body had a name and a life. He stuck out his hand and offered a firm shake. His daughter

gave me a big hug and said ?thank you for saving my father?. A flood of emotion ran

through me. We shook hands again before I left, and told him to take care. This was the

most incredible call I have ever run in my career for two reasons. First its the only true

save I?ve had, yes I?ve had other cardiac saves, but the definitions are long and technical.

And second I didn?t have to be there, I.E. I wasn?t on duty. That?s the icing on the cake,

we were in the right place at the right time and had the privilege to do something

exceptionally special.

Domo Arigotto Mr. Roboto

We define ourselves as clear thinkers, and yet the majority of us are nothing more than

lemmings. Personally I don?t like being spoon fed my information. But the majority of our

populous use lack of time as the paramount excuse to rely on broadcast media as there

sole source of information. You may not like my opinion and that?s fine. But ask yourself

this before judging . From where do you obtain your information? Do you simply

metabolize in front of the television nightly, or are you an active participant in the quest

for information? In gathering this information its no longer a search for the truth but more

a quest for the least amount of lies. Granted there still is a code of ethics followed in

journalism among the more reputable publishers and broadcasters, but its as if the

community as a whole doesn?t even care what its being told anymore. Look at tabloid

television or tabloid magazines, is this a reflection of our societies collective mind set?

You?ve heard the adage ?lets give ?em what they want? so it makes me wonder what the

Nielsons are all about as of late. Among my circle of friends at least, we can not believe

the tripe that is getting countless hours of television exposure or the hundreds of pages in

newspapers and so called news magazines. Our society has become nothing more than

robots accepting of the commands the media chooses to throw at them. If you believe

nothing but what you are told, and, even if you have the where-with-all to disagree but do

nothing about it, than I hope you have a parachute because its a long way down over that

cliff!

Joints

?man I?m glad I eat with utensils?-Me

?today is a good day to be alive?-Anon.

?domo arigotto mr. roboto? -Styx paradise theater