Great Change

Working with others to make a positive change can sometimes be difficult, but if you feel that the change that needs to be made is the only priority in your life, then you should be willing to drop all of your differences with others to create a positive impact or outcome. In the book a navy yard proposed to have a 55 story incinerator for 15 years. The purpose of the incinerator was to convert garbage to electrical energy, but the major drawback was the devastating amount of emissions it put off. This would have saturated the already damaged town of Williamsburg. There were many different groups in the community that did not like each other and were always yelling at one or the other. Some of the groups were the Hasidic, United Jewish Organization, Puerto Ricans, and Dominicans. All of them fought on all levels of issues in their community, but when they all heard about the emissions put off by the incinerator, they all dropped their differences to come together to ban the incinerator for the health of their kids. No matter how different everyone is there will always be a common cause or force that brings them all together, and the health of their children is a great force that most people cannot ignore. All of these groups came together and did many protests, and in the end in 1996 they worked out an agreement with the state legislature that ended the incinerator project. All of the groups contributed to a positive change, which held a lot of impact. Not only did they shut down the incinerator, but they created bonds between their groups.

As for my own life, I am put in similar, but less important, situations everyday at college. In every class there is always someone who has a different view from my own, however, I do not let it bother me or tell them that they are wrong. Everyone has their own opinion, it is theirs not yours. You cannot force people to have the same opinion as you. All you can do is show them the multiple sides of the situation so they can become more educated about the subject, so they are not just biased. Maybe, sometime in the future their opinion might change due to yours side of the situation, and it also may not change. Everyday you will always meet or see people with different opinions and viewpoints than your own, you cannot change them, but you can open them up to all sides.