Persuasive Essay

“As you grow older, you will discover that you have two hands- one for helping yourself, the other for helping others.” – Audrey Hepburn.

The last decade has welcomed, with open arms, a new epidemic: obesity. Currently in the United States, more than one-third of adults, 35.7%, and approximately 17% of children and adolescents are obese. Obesity is not only a problem in the US but also worldwide with its prevalence doubling in high income and economically advanced countries and is also growing in under-developed areas. Its incidence rate is continually increasing with each successive generation and in each age group, including the elderly (Byles, 2009; Dorner and Rieder, 2011).

The cost of college tuition is continually on the rise and has placed many burdens on high school students as well as their families. Some of the burdens that are placed are a result of parents putting pressure on their children to earn scholarships. Some of the burden is a result of students putting pressure on themselves to earn scholarships. Then, there is the burden of high college debt once the student graduates. Is this pressure really helping our students or is it hurting them? The bottom line is college tuition is skyrocketing out of control and something must be done before it destroys our families and our children.

The prevalence of obesity continues to increase and remains elevated over the past several decades in the United States (12). About 34% adults and 17% children are obese, which totals to about 72 million adults and 12 million children out of the entire U.S. population. Among these, African Americans and Hispanics Americans have the highest rates compared to Asian Americans and non-Hispanics White (12). Obesity is defined as having excessive fat in the body. Although overweight and obesity are

Obesity is a leading preventable cause of death worldwide and its prevalence is increasing at an alarming rate (Barness et al, 2007). For thousands of years obesity was rarely seen, it was not until the 20th century that it became common, some much so that in 1997, the World Health Organization (WHO) formally recognized obesity as a global epidemic (Caballero, 2007).

Obesity in the United States is an epidemic of growing proportions. According to the Center for Disease Control more than one-third (34.9% or 78.6 million) of U.S. adults are obese. ("Adult Obesity Facts", 2014). Obesity is defined as a body mass index or BMI, over 30. A person’s height and weight are used to determine BMI but does not measure how much body fat a person has.

“Obesity is a disease that affects more than one-third of the U.S adult population (approximately 78.6 million Americans). The number of Americans with obesity had steadily increase since 1960, a trend that has slowed down in recent years but show no sign of reversing”.

“Your assignment is to write a persuasive essay and present it to the class in a week. You will be graded based on how convincing it is. Today we will be choosing topics,” announced Mr. Bowerbank, my 7th grade English teacher and ruler of classroom 110. My class simultaneously groaned at the prospect of work. I simply lifted my head with intrigue as it was already May and about time we had our first essay. He then proceeded to give examples of topics we could choose and gave us some time to think before we had to tell him our topic. My classmates were already rushing to tell the teacher their idea lest someone else steal it. That meant the usual abortion, death penalty, or drug use topics were out. I really couldn't think of anything and the teacher was slowly making his way through the remaining students like an executioner beheading criminals in a line. I have always thought that he would make a marvelous supervillain if he had a curly mustache, a tophat, and a cape. Eventually my name was called. I slowly dragged myself over to his desk. Even sitting down, he still seemed to tower over me. “What is your topic Cindy?” As usual in such desperate times, my mind turned to food. “Waffles are better than pancakes.” I figured that a waffle was just a differently shaped pancake with a nicer texture. “Hmm. Excellent topic. I look forward to your essay!” I survived to live yet another day.

On September 5, 2017, Matt Harrell, passionately presented on whether or not it was ethical to use Hellfire, Brimstone, and Damnation as fear tactics to get people to behave morally. Harrell took the stance that this was unethical and I agree with him. It is unethical to threaten people with hell and damnation to try and convince them to behave morally. It is also inhumane to frighten people with hellfire and brimstone. This is not The Gospel of Jesus Christ and street corner preachers who harshly call out the sins in those passing by are not accurately representing God. No one in this universe is without sin; therefore none of us should be the first one to cast a stone at another brother or sister.

If I could choose any three people to eat dinner and spend an evening with in U.S. history they would be Maria Tallchief, Sojourner Truth, and Thomas Jefferson.

On February 9, 2007, Chris Williams’s life changed forever. As Williams was driving home with his wife and three youngest kids, a car “moving at an unbelievably high speed” T-boned their car “with a force so violent and tremendous that the impact stopped [their] car from going downhill and pushed it back uphill.” In an instant, two of his children, his wife, and their unborn child were killed in the horrific accident. In his own words, “I was ready for death. I tried to will myself to pass out; I wanted to succumb to the process of having my spirit leave my body. From deep inside my body came a sound of excruciating anguish and pain, of body and spirit being crushed.” However, Williams simply faced the overturned car that had crashed into his and chose to “let it go” (“Just Let Go”). Within moments of the accident, he forgave the drunk driver that had killed the majority of his family. Although this is an extreme example, I believe offering forgiveness to those who have wronged me is an important principle in my life. Forgiveness relieves me of holding grudges, seeking revenge, and despising those who use me.

Why is it that college is notoriously known for being the place where students are broke? If one stops to think about it, students live their whole life on free education thanks to the public school system. However, when the time comes to move to a further education institute, learners are being punished by gigantian fines and most are forced to do the only option: take out a loan. While these are bad enough and may trap honest students with hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt, it doesn’t have to be this way. Large universities should be the main target of blame for all college students alike. This is done by hiding useless fees we are forced to pay for in our tuition and overpricing campus named rights we should already have such as parking or printing.

As a young child you always thought it would be amazing to be a ballerina or an astronaut, your goals were to shoot for the stars and to become a millionaire. You became more logical, and those huge ambitions started to fade. In early high-school, you were asked by many where you wanted to go, what you wanted to do. Your answer was the same clueless thought of, “I don’t know”. By your sophomore year of high-school there is still nothing that seems to suit your interests. Soon on you begin to find your people, your drive, the holy grail of a fresh start. The gears in your brain start to revive, and you’ve finally began to pave your path in life.

The United States army works arguably harder than any other Americans and they work to protect us so that we can feel safe in the land home to over 300 million people. Recently the National Football League has seen some very controversial behavior, during the National Anthem players have sat, kneeled, raised fists and embraced teammates who have done the following to raise awareness for police violence. But while doing this they have disrespected our army who are all over the earth protecting us so that we can do the things that we love such as playing football. I think that the players in the NFL should not be able to kneel during the National Anthem because it disrespects a country that is fighting so the people in our country can feel safe.

When it comes down to the United States of America, are we really as patriotic as we say, when it comes to pledging for our country ? Explaining, that we pledge our self for this country everyday, so why are we going against the very foundation of our country? “ Our obligations to our country never cease but with our lives “ - John Adams, letter to Benjamin Rush, 18 April 1808 ( US diplomat and politician 1735-1826 ). John Adams, our 2nd president of the United States, stated we should never question our loyalty to the homeland ( United States Of America ). This raises the question “ Should players be allowed protest, during the National Anthem ? “ Currently, many U.S. citizens are very angered by the protest of NFL players protesting the United States anthem. Which enraged both non-protesters and protesters, but shouldn’t we be united as one, not individually and not pinned each other.