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What Makes the World Turn?

By: Austin LaRue
Dr. Frances
ENG 111 Sec. 08
3-10-15

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Outline
I.

Introduction
A. The topic of this research paper is about growth in the world that surrounds
humans and how it affects it.
B. Growth is a necessity of personal and daily life, and is constantly occurring,

II.

improving the world around us.

Body
A. Concept Analysis: The concept of growth is the most important factor of life;
without it life would simply not exist or be where it is today.
1. Definition of growth and what it is.
a. Definition.
b. How growth can be achieved.
2. How growth can affect communities.
a. Auto industry and Model T Ford example.
b. Improvements that followed the automobile.
3. Views people have about growth.
4. Difference between growth and change.
5. The concept of growth is visible in my relationship with soccer and leads into
how my relationship is an example of growth.
B. Relationship: My relationship with soccer caused me to change by growing and
becoming stronger.
1. How my relationship with soccer began and how it changed over time into
something bigger.
2. Struggles I went through while playing soccer in high school.
3. What I learned from my experiences and how I grew because of my
relationship.
4. The reader learns about the way that I have grown because of a relationship I
have and this section leads into how an individual or community can grow.
C. Cause/Effect: Growth is caused by the need for improvement and can lead to even
more growth, sometimes on exponential scales.
1. Personal motivation and growth.
2. The need for a more organized society and the creation of the economy.
3. The invention/ideas created can lead to more efficient improvements.
4. The causes of growth can be used to explain why growth happens in the first
place.

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III.

Conclusion: The new thoughts about growth after reading this paper should be that
growth affects nearly everything even if you are not aware of it, and that individuals
should reflect upon how they have grown in the past and how they can continue
growing.

In the world of today, there is a large amount of factors in both the natural world that
change the world and move it forward, but what force is the most important? The answer to this
question is growth; it is included nearly in everything and everywhere around us in today's
world. Maybe growth was involved in that test you studied for and aced, or maybe it had
something to do with that new smartphone that was in development. Whether you are aware of it
or not, growth is constantly occurring on a mass scale every day of the year. Without growth the
human race would be without any complex forms of technology or ideals. Growth is not only an
influence on the world; it is essential. Growth is a necessity in the world, and is constantly
occurring, improving the world around us.
The cycle of life is most likely the most fascinating and interesting process to ever exist.
It all starts when a person is born; where they then start to develop and become stronger and
stronger over the years. As that person gets older and older they learn more, gain experience,
and go along to play the game of life. There are many important concepts included in this cycle

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we call life; such as aging and learning. Nearly all of these smaller concepts can add up to one
large concept; this concept is called growth. There are many important ways an individual can
achieve growth, and all of them are important when it comes to being successful at life. The
concept of growth is the most important factor of life; without it life would simply not exist or be
where it is today.
There are a few questions that can be asked about the concept of growth. One of these
questions is: what is the definition of growth? According to the Oxford Dictionary, growth is
defined as the process in which something progresses physically, mentally, or spiritually
(growth). When growth occurs, it can have a domino effect and possibly cause it to occur in
more than way. For example, according to an issue of Harvard Mens Health Watch, moderately
intense and regular exercise can have a variety of positive effects on mental health such as a
decrease in stress and improved happiness. In this case, physical growth leads to more growth in
the form of mental improvement. (Harvard Health). Growth is amazing not only because it
causes so much change, but also because it can cause chain reactions of growth of different
kinds.
Growth can do so much more than only affecting an individual alone, it can have effects
on the community as well. A major reason that society grew more complex was because of the
advancement of technology. A great example of how growth affects society in a technological
way in is cars; even when the first mass produced automobile, the Model T Ford, was first
produced by Henry Ford it flipped the world of transportation on its head. As a matter of fact,
according to an article for the New York Times it was voted the most influential car of the 20th
century in the 1999 car of the century competition. (Cobb)Soon there were new ideas and
inventions that made the automobile grow and advanced. The ideas kept getting better and better:

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better gas mileage, faster cars, cars that could carry more passengers. As you can see, the idea of
the automobile grew a great amount and bettered society. The growth of the automobile benefited
society by making traveling more luxurious, and also created the opportunity for jobs involving
manufacturing and more in the automotive industry that benefitted society even more.
In todays world an average person can access the worlds largest source of information
on the internet at their disposal, whereas years ago you had to go all the way to a library to find
information in the form of a book. Technology grew and took humanity to a place that no one
could have imagined in the past. Technology is most likely one of the most powerful and perfect
forms of growth a person could possibly think of.
People can view technology as either being a very good thing or a bad thing. In a web
article called The Four Negative Side Effects of Technology, Martin states that technology,
such as cell phones, has some very negative effects on society, especially the youth (Martin, The
Four Negative Side Effects of Technology). The four bad ways in which technology affects
people include increased frustration, loss of writing skills, loss of patience, and reduced human
interaction (Martin, The Four Negative Effects of Technology). This shows that sometimes a
positive growth can lead to negative effects on something else in the future. In this case the
invention of the internet helped the growth of the cell phone and computers, but eventually led to
negative side effects on humans, who were primarily children. In some peoples opinions,
technology can be viewed as either good or bad depending on how it is used. The point is,
growth can lead to both good and bad results. It all depends on how humans decide to use the
powerful tool of growth to their advantage.
Though growth and change seem like they are the same word, in all reality they are not
actually the same. When something changes, all it means is when something becomes different.

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Growth is different than change because according to the Oxford Dictionary, growth is when
something specifically progresses. Growth and change are, however, related when they are both
used to describe progression. On the other hand, however, growth cannot be used to describe
decline or setbacks because it is simply not part of its definition; growth can lead to a bad change
and have some side effects but only in specific situations. Take the negative effects of technology
for example, the positive growth and advancement in technology has lead to a change with
negative effects like decreased writing skills. The point is, they dont mean the same thing by
definition.
Growth could be considered the most powerful force on earth. It can make an individual
become stronger, wiser, and smarter. Personal growth is a large achievement for most
individuals, and a great example is in the world of athletics. Athletes are constantly trying to
improve themselves to become the greatest they can be, trying to defeat their competitors. All
around the world there are people of all ages who participate in an extremely vast variety of
sports. While these sports can be both enjoyable both to play and to watch, when there is some
form of rigorous physical activity there is also a risk of disaster striking. The question is, what
becomes of a person affected by a sports injury by doing something they love? Do they quit
because of the traumatic experience and stop their passion, or do they get back in the game for
the rush of adrenaline and the thirst for victory? I have a relationship with the sport of soccer;
one where I have experienced some the worst tragedies in my entire life. Even though I had such
traumatic experiences while playing, I came back and continued for the rush and joy of playing
soccer. Sometimes the hardest of obstacles are rewarded with the gift of endurance. Regardless
of being athletic or not everyone will be faced with challenges and obstacles in life that can learn
to overcome. When challenges are presented they can be used as the most powerful tools for

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learning, motivating, and improving. My relationship with soccer caused me to change by

growing and becoming stronger.
My relationship with soccer all began when I was only in the third grade. I started out by
playing for a recreational soccer association in Bay City. The league which I played in, called the
Bay Area Soccer Association (or BASA), was not a very competitive league. It was only a
program for kids to play soccer to have fun and play soccer when they were growing up. It was
often expressed in the program that their main goal was to let kids have fun, regardless if they
won. I wanted to not only have fun, but I wanted to win at the same time. I practiced a lot
because I felt like the clich phrase "practice makes perfect" applied to me. I wanted to be the
best soccer player as I possibly could. The league I was in, however, was not as skillful or
competitive as the travel soccer teams, whos only objective was winning. Playing soccer made
me not only athletic, but also very competitive in sports as well as in school. Another way soccer
changed my personality was that it made me more energetic. Soccer requires a high amount of
energy because the sport involves a large amount of running; sometimes for long periods of time.
I played for BASA up until high school, where my relationship with soccer then blossomed
further when I was given the opportunity to join Bay City Western High School's J.V. soccer
team. It gave me the perfect opportunity to get better at soccer and get competitive. When I first
started, I was a little nervous because the other players seemed to be better than me. This was
because most of them were a part of more competitive leagues, as previously mentioned. After a
few months of training with the other players before the soccer season, I soon became much
better soccer player and matched the skill of which the other players on the team were at. I
finally felt like a part of the actual team; where I had a certain role and a part of something larger.

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I played on the J.V. team the following year after my first .However, I did not know what
would happen to me over the course of that soccer season. One fateful day in July I was training
with the rest of my team when suddenly, I broke my arm. Before this point in my life, I had
never had a broken bone, nor did I know what such an experience felt like. Though I had broken
my arm, I still continued going to practice (I did not practice however, I was just there to learn
the tactics for our team). After my arm healed over the period of a few months I started playing
one again, only to be greeted by a more traumatizing accident. After a few months of playing
when I had healed, I had broken my collar bone in six separate places during a game I had. The
bone looked like it was nearly about to pierce my skin. I couldnt move at all and needed to be
taken to the hospital, where I was then told that I could not be operated on for another two days;
these two days were most likely the worst days in my entire life.
Even though I had broken two bones that season, I came back to play once the next
season; ready to play for the wonderful rush of adrenaline. This made me realize another way I
had been changed by my relationship with soccer. I realized that I had become increasingly
headstrong and relentless because of my accidents. I then realized there may be people who have
had similar experiences like the one I had. As it turns out, there is about two million sports
related injuries in the U.S. alone according to the ASPE; 231,000 of those being soccer related
(Misra, Arpit. "Incidence and Average Charges."). This shows me that I'm not the only sports
player who had to recover from a terrible experience and choose to continue doing something
they loved, even though there is a risk of harm.
You hear about people get injured while playing sports all the time nowadays. So why do
they come back for more? Why do they continue, even though they could get hurt again? The
answer is simple: they have a relationship with a sport or hobby that they love and dont want to

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give up on. Sometimes, the greatest of improvement can come along with a little bit of risk along
with them. When disaster strikes it gives people an opportunity not only a chance to improve
themselves, but also to learn and grow.
In the world around us, there are many ways things are constantly changing and
becoming more advanced. Growth is everywhere in todays world; without growth, the world
around us would still be at the point where it was during the stone ages. But what was it that
caused everything to change and evolve? What was it that allowed life for humans to prosper on
such a massive scale? The answer to all of these questions is that things (both living and
nonliving) needed to grow and change in order to become more stable, more efficient, and
become better than the competition.
In individuals, there are many circumstances and motivations that can cause a person to
grow. The different ways in which a person can change include both mentally and physically. A
person could grow mentally when they go to school and learn and having human interaction. In
an article in a scholarly journal called Initiating Personal Growth: The Role of Recognition and
Life Satisfaction on the Development of College Students, Celinda Stevic and Rose Ward state
that even brief, positive social interactions can drastically change a persons life and encourage
good relationships with other people (524). This is proof that having certain circumstances can
cause a person to grow mentally and help them develop and possibly become a better human
being by being able to communicate with others more effectively. A person may grow physically
in a way by strengthening their body through certain methods such as lifting weights, jogging,
and other forms of exercising; people also experience growth naturally as they get older and
natural growth hormones kick in. People often want to grow physically to become stronger and
tougher. People see growth as not only a goal, but also as a motivator to make themselves better.

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Growth not only affects living organisms, it also affects nonliving things such as
technology and ideas. Things such as ideas and technology can grow with the help of some
human development, just like humans can improve themselves. Just look at computers of today;
the internet was invented just a few decades ago and since then technology grew on such a rapid
and exponential scale. Smartphones, tablets, and other mobile forms of technology would not be
possible without the invention of the internet. The point is, the growth of technology is all based
upon the idea of being more efficient, effective, and useful. According to Gregory Tassey, author
of the article Globalization of technology-based growth: the policy imperative, nations are
becoming more competitive when it comes to having superior technology (560). This means that
nations are now starting to compete for which one has the most impressive technological growth,
just as people who compete in sporting events train to see who competes the best. This relates to
the point that the motive for growth is, in some cases, to become better than competitors.
Humans are not only trying to now improve themselves, but now their nation itself.
Another way nations try to grow competitively is economically. When it came to
economics, society grew at a pace that was completely unpredicted. When people had resources
that others needed, they would often trade one good for another. When new ideas came along,
there needed to be ways in which such ides could be made into reality. This would only be
possible if there was some way of trading things for goods and services. Thus began the
existence and idea of economics; where one thing was traded for another. Present day, economic
standings are one of the most important factors on society, and influence on a mass scale. Take
technology for example, when the internet was invented the market for such technological
devices grew so vastly in such a short period of time. Within years, there were so many new
creations such as cell phones and wireless internet, which had an amazing effect on the economy

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by making it extremely diverse and important. According to Alina-Petronela Haller, author of the
scholarly journal article called Economic Growth in Knowledge-Based Society, the basis of
society drifted away from knowledge and grew into being a more economically based society
(517). The growth of economics was a major driving force for competition among nations, and
even led to many disputes between nations trying to figure out how they could make their own
economies better. All of these small categories of growth all contribute to the larger form of
growth that is society.

Growth affects living and nonliving things alike, and sometimes they may help the other
to grow along with their own improvement. Where would technology be without man, and where
would man be without technology? Things need to constantly grow and improve in order to keep
up with their competition, or to make processes simpler and more efficient. Growth can be not
only used as a tool to strengthen, but also as a motivator to make even more growth occur. The
rate in which growth can occur can either come to a dead stop, or increase at an extremely rapid
and exponential rate. Sometimes, growth can even become a competition, whether it be survival
of the fittest or just to see which force is more superior. Growth is everywhere and without the
factor of growth, the world would just not simply be at the point of which it is today. Growth is
the most important and influential force ever to exist in the universe. Growth is not only the force
that turns society, it is also the force that makes the world go round.

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Works Cited
Misra, Arpit. "Incidence and Average Charges." ASPE Issue Brief. ASPE. 17 March, 2014. 20
Jan, 2015. Web.
http://www.aspe.hhs.gov/health/reports/2014/SportsInjuries/ib_SportsInjuries.pdf
Haller, Alina-Petronela. "Economic Growth in Knowledge-Based Society." Economics,
Management and Financial Markets 7.4 (2012): 517-25. Print. 19 Feb. 2015.
Wikipedia Contributors, Revision History Statistics. Ford Model T. Wikipedia.org. 27 Jan.
2015. Web. 4 Feb. 2015.
Martin, Alice. The Four Negative Side Effects of Technology. Edudemic.com. 30 May 2013.
Web. 4 Feb. 2015
Tassey, Gregory. (2008). Globalization of technology-based growth: The policy
imperative. Journal of Technology Transfer, 33.6, 560-578. Print. 18 Feb. 2015.
Growth.Oxford Dictionaries. Oxford University Press. 2015. Web. 3 Feb. 2015.
Stevic, Celinda R., & Ward, Rose M. (2008). Initiating personal growth: The role of recognition
and life satisfaction on the development of college students. Social Indicators
Research, 89.3, 523-534. Print. 18 Feb. 2015.

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"Regular Exercise Releases Brain Chemicals Key for Memory, Concentration, and Mental
Sharpness, from the May 2013 Harvard Men's Health Watch - Harvard Health." Harvard
Health. Web. 4 Apr. 2015.
Cobb, James. This Just in: Model T Gets Award. The New York Times. The New York Times,
23, Dec. 1999. Web. 4 Apr 2015.