However, after two meaningful weeks of hard labor, it hit me like a hurricane – the most obvious and simple basis of community service and social action: a group of hodgepodge teenagers can "save the world" –of an individual.

Paralleling the Talmudic saying, "rescuing a single life earns as much merit as rescuing the entire world," repairing a leak in a broken pipe of a homeowner’s house is just as significant as repairing a broken levee. Each overgrown weed I macheted, each wall I painted on Edmond’s house, each wooden plank I smeared with anti-mold in Buddy's 80-year-old attic made one additional step towards the ultimate result of bringing an individual’s world back together.

This realization hit home when a vivacious old lady, a complete stranger, meandered into a house we were renovating one afternoon. She thanked us wholeheartedly, passionately declaring that "the volunteers who come here are the ones who will bring, who are bringing, New Orleans back to life --back to normal."

Her observation helped me to realize that the collective actions of many people can unite to create large-scale change. I left New Orleans exhausted, but invigorated, with paint permanently embedded in my hair and an epiphany in my head: when a situation needs change, I have the power to spark it.

I brought this visionback home and began to fuse my own passion for social justice with my leadership positions in my high school and with the Jewish youth organization NFTY (North American Federation of Temple Youth). I learned that by inspiring and activating others in the realm of social action, I can make an exponentially larger difference.

As the leader of the Community Services committee of Tremper High School’s Student Government, I direct the 70 members of my committee in a variety of volunteering events in Kenosha, including the largest student-led blood drive in the nation, food and clothing collections for the needy, and emergency relief fundraising for situations around the world. Under my leadership, the willingness of members to delve into community service projects has dramatically increased; in fact, volunteering is now deemed "cool" at my school.

Additionally, as the Social Action Vice President of the Midwest region of NFTY, I have raised awareness of crucial themes and significant issues affecting our globe by developing and leading interactive, outside-the-box programs on topics ranging from child labor rights to the civil war in Northern Uganda. By providing fellow teenagers with constructive ways to take action, I have given them the tools necessary to implement similar programs in their own synagogues and high schools throughout the Midwest. With each new program, I know that dozens of new activists arecreated, who in turn create more activists, exponentially spreadin g the flame of social actionand correspondingly combating ignorance.

In a moment of weakness in the Lower Ninth Ward, I questioned why I was pushing myself to the limit when I thought my work would have no impact. Now, I know why: I’m doing it for Buddy, for the homeless womanin Kenosha, for the scared-to-death child soldier in Uganda. I am no longer a naive volunteer --I am a catalyst. I am no longer one domino in a chain of hundreds --I am the finger that tips this chain, truly advancing social justice and creating positive, constructive change in the world. I want to continue to bring lives, communities, and countries together in my future, because I have the determination, the motivation, and the power to make a difference.