A Contest to Win a Vehicle, Essay Example

America was made for cars. It is your passport to everything. You can’t work, eat, vote, go to church, or visit your family, unless you can get yourself there. To some people, their car is an extension of their personality. For some it is a statement of responsibility to the environment or a badge that shows they support the American autoworker. For some, a car is freedom. But not for me. For me a car is none of those things, and yet, it is everything.

I am a single parent of a 3-year-old. I am the child of a mother who depends on me to take her to her oncologist. I am a 30-hour-a-week worker for a company that is 50 miles away from my home. I am a full-time student pushing myself every night and earning a 3.7 GPA.

I am not poor. I have a child that enriches my life every day. I am not destitute. When so many are looking for work, I do have a job that I can sustain. I am not needy. In front of me, I have an opportunity to get my diploma and make a better life for myself. I am not without guidance, but I need to be there for my guide and make sure she has a companion as she faces cancer, and her own mortality.

I have never asked for a handout. I have earned everything in my purse. But with this car, everything in my life can be sustained. Everything I am, everything I hope to become, everything I need, I can sustain if I can just get myself there. This is a machine that I will never covet, that I will never polish, that I will never desire, that I will never idolize, but one that I will cherish as long as it is in my keeping. In a few years, when I can afford to buy one of my own, I will pass this on to someone else who needs her too.

Help me to help my family. Help me to help myself.