Laws of Life
Essay Contest
The Laws of Life essay program gives you a unique opportunity to reflect on your
values and write about them. The laws of life are the core values, ideals, and principles
by which we live. Honesty, perseverance, good will to others are “laws” that are
universal and central to our lives.
The Laws of Life essay contest invites young people to express in their own words
the ideals and principles that mean the most to them. The contest enables students to
think about the values that will guide them the rest of their lives.
You are asked to write an essay on one “law of your life”. See the brainstorming
writing prompts to help start your essay. As you write, please keep in mind the
following:
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Your essay will be kept confidential. If your essay is chosen as a finalist to go
onto the regional contest, your name will not be on your essay but on a
separate entry form.
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This program is meant to encourage you to examine and affirm your personal
beliefs.
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Use your personal experiences to generate ideas for your essay.
-Bring a first draft of this essay this Thursday, February 16th for a peer editing
workshop in class.
-Your final draft is due Friday, February 17th.
-On Friday, February 17th, you will turn in your final draft for a quiz grade.
Grading rubric:
Interesting introduction
and clear thesis stating law of life
20 points
Three body paragraphs with supporting details
Transitions and coherence needed
60 points
Concluding paragraph with sense of closure
10 points
Proofread for grammar, syntax, and spelling
10 points
A law of life is a clearly articulated guiding principle or attitude or character trait
that helps a person to make the world a better place. A law of life is positive and life
affirming and is something we would seek everyone would practice.
Laws of Life Writing prompts: Read through the questions. Pick one prompt that you
can answer with interesting facts and/or a story.
1. Think of a family member or a parent or a friend whom you admire. What law of life
(character trait or value) does that person demonstrate?
2. Describe a personal experience that helped you develop your law of life.
3. Describe a time in your life when someone has helped you. How has this affected you
in developing your law of life.
4. What law of life would you like to develop to make you a better person?
5. What law of life do you think is most important to teach your children?
6. Do you have a law of life that encourages you to be responsible for those less
fortunate than you are?
7. Imagine that you have lived a long and meaningful life. What would you be most
proud of? What law of life did you demonstrate to others?
8. Is there a great leader who exhibits a law of life that you admire?
9. Why do you make the choices you make? How do your choices reflect your law of
life?
Sample Essay:
“It’s Cool To Be Kind” by Jake Palmer, 7th grade
From an early age, I have always cared about people. I just had to help them if they
needed it. Being kind doesn’t just help the person receiving kindness; it benefits the person giving
it, too. Kindness is like kindling; it only needs a spark to get it going. And once it is burning, it
spreads and spreads. And that fire gives off warmth throughout the community.
Kindness doesn’t only benefit the person receiving it, it helps the person who gives it.
There is a sense of satisfaction that comes from helping another person. Once when I was
younger, we were having snack time and a kid was sitting alone who looked very sad. I decided
to ask him to sit with my friends and me even though my other friends didn’t want him to. It gave
me this warm feeling and I like how he smiled when I invited him over. I took this outlook of
kindness with me to Eastern Middle School. Last year, as a member of the student council, I had
the idea to try to take away the school rule of only six students at a table because this was making
some kids have to sit alone. It made me sad to see them sitting there alone and I wanted help. I
have learned that kindness doesn’t only benefit the giver and receiver; it creates an effect, a
trickle effect.
Being kind creates a trickle effect, which simply means when you are kind; it makes
other people want to be kind, too. A good example of the trickle effect is when I was a friend to a
boy in my school who other kids thought was weird. He was the kind of person who was always
acting tough with everyone. After we became friends, he started to relax and become less hostile.
He then began to be more friendly to people. After a few days, he was a friend to someone else,
like I was to him. The kids who once thought he was weird didn’t perceive him as a “loser”
anymore. This is an example of the trickle effect. It only takes one person to ignite this chain
reaction. As Jesse Jackson once said, “Never look down on someone unless you are helping them
up.”
Kindness doesn’t only create a trickle effect; it creates a sense of caring throughout your
community or school. Last year, after hearing about Hurricane Katrina on the news, I felt very
sad and I knew I needed to help; I just didn’t know how. I told my mom how I was feeling and
she told me that the best way to help is to give your time. She told me the first meeting of the
Young Volunteers was the very next day. I knew I needed to join this club and help people in
need. Young Volunteers help by raising money for charities. After our first bake sale, there
seemed to be a good feeling in the air. It made everyone feel like they had helped raise money for
people in need. The sense of kindness grew throughout the year as we did more fundraisers.
Everyone seemed more and more willing to help as the year went on. I even recruited several of
my friends to join the club who initially though it was not a cool thing to do. But they realized
what I already knew; it’s cool to be kind.
As the Dali Lama said, “If you want others to be happy, practice compassion.” These are
the words I live my life by. There are words everyone should live by and if they did, the world
would be a kinder place.