By Deeza Jain, Gunnedah South Public School
Do you follow government rules? Here is a little story explaining the rights and responsibilities of citizens of Australia!
Willow and Sam Wells were born and raised in Gunnedah, Australia. One day they saw their mother, Nina, doing something important on her work laptop. They asked, “Mum, what are you doing on your work laptop? You never use your work laptop at home.”
Their mum replied, “I am trying to vote. Voting is a responsibility of a good citizen of every country.”
“I want to vote, it looks fun,” shouted Sam with excitement at the top of his lungs.
“You can’t vote yet because you are not 18 or over, but what you can do as a good citizen is recycle, try to not waste food and any other useful things, or protect the environment”, explained mum.
Willow was lost in the wonderland of her own thoughts and asked, “Mum, is planting trees an act of being a good citizen?”
“Yes, it is,” replied mum, “Anything you do that is good for the country is an act of a good citizen.”
In the evening, the family left for a stroll in the park. They saw that there was litter everywhere, some cars were speeding and a few kids riding without a helmet.
“Look, people are breaking many rules that must be followed or you could get a fine or even get in an accident,” said their mum, studying the road.
“Mum, could we put the rubbish in the bin?” asked Sam.
“Of course,” replied mum, “Other people didn’t put their rubbish in the bin, but we can still do it.”
They all started picking up the rubbish near the bin. There were cans and paper, after a while, the park was as clean as a whistle.
With all the playing, cleaning up and swinging on swings, the kids were exhausted. They came home sweaty and tired, then they had a bath and went to sleep.
The next day at school, the classroom was filled with children playing with paper planes. Willow thought that the children were wasting paper and stood in front of the class.
Pointing to the paper planes, she said, “Don’t you think that if we use paper to do these pointless things, we will not have enough trees then we would have no oxygen. So, it is better to not waste any paper.”
The children all nodded after a moment of agreeing and disagreeing.
The school ended with all happy children running out of the gates. Willow rode her bike home, thinking that she helped solve one world problem, even if it was a small gesture with the paper planes.
“How was your day, Willow?” asked mum.
Willow replied, “It was okay, but some people were wasting paper.”
Mum went to make some supper for Willow and said, “You should not worry so much, you will get wrinkles on your face like me.
“You could make a group of your own that informs people about being a good citizen, or you could make posters and that would still inform people,” Mum said.
“However, it is up to the people to whether they follow the rules or not.”
Willow finally understood that it is not up to her to make other people follow the rules and learn the importance of them, but it’s certainly important to set a good example.
Welcome to the first instalment of the Gunnedah Times’ Junior Journalist column.
This segment will be published periodically in the Gunnedah Times and feature news stories submitted by students from local schools in the Gunnedah shire.
Stories can be written about any topic and is designed to help promote the work of many budding young writers in our Gunnedah community.
Recently, the Gunnedah Times staff visited Gunnedah South Public School to check out some of the writing pieces currently in development by its student cohort.
This first story is written by Year 5 student Deeza Jain from Gunnedah South – we hope you enjoy reading it as much we did!
If your child or school would like to be involved, email: [email protected]
