Actual Common App Essay

Actual Common App Essay

Children! Children! I called out to the poor kids in the South African village. Some of them couldn’t hear me because their malnutrition affected their hearing. Some have never seen the sun, or heard the tender words of “I love you”. When I first arrived in the village, I was hailed as some sort of savior. It astounded me how much these children needed help, and how easily they could be helped. I did the best I could to help them, because I love children.

However, deep inside, I felt these capitalistic desires overwhelm my conscience. These children… would make profound sweatshop workers or sex slaves. No, they were too malnourished. Maybe if I fed them for a month or so, they would be healthy and then I could sell their organs. No how could I? The thought of it was utterly ridiculous, because if I were to sell the organs, then I would only reach out to the immediate market, which was poor as well. Overseas transportation was bitterly expensive at the time. The only valuable parts were the corneas and kidneys as well, and those would take much more than a month of good nourishment to heal.

I couldn’t do it. Even if I felt the capitalistic side of me tug at my heart, I resisted because I knew the net profit worth was not worth these children. It was a balance that couldn’t be measured at the time.

After about two weeks or so, I called a meeting with the tribal counselors. I told them straight what needed to be done. I only brought over enough food for about 3 weeks of sustainable vegetation. They had to create some sort of self renewing product to bring the village out of poverty. Crops? No, it was too arid and the land was no good for that type of agriculture. Oil? The land was practically sucked dry. Sex slaves and sweatshops were out of the question because there was no centralized power that could control it, and the village was far too rural. After considering all of this, I put forward a suggestion. Opium. It had no downsides, it was a tremendously good investment. The opium market in Africa was doing well and it was fairly easy to produce. In about two or three weeks, an opium irrigation channel could be set up by my men and production could begin in the next month at earliest.

But then, again, I felt the tug of capitalism at my heart. No… I can’t… But I did. After the arrangement of 80% of the profits to me, and with increased aftermarket profits, I still wasn’t satisfied. Nothing could satisfy my thirst for money. I had two men I brought from Uganda, teenage-once-child-soldier that I bought to take care of the three main tribal chieftains. Then I set up a society with opium production at its core. The village was a perfect investment. I took control of all the Africans and when the irrigation channels were completed, I shipped in the opium seeds I bought from the Chinese triads.

Sales were booming, and nothing was there to stop me. My opium had spread all the way up to Egypt and all the way down to South Africa. I practically held the heart of Africa in my heart, and I was choking the money out of it. However, as soon as the Congo Basin rebels heard of my business, I knew I had to take out the competition. Knowing I had surprise to my advantage, I started a civil war and wiped out nearly all of the men in the Democratic Republic. I then proclaimed myself King of the nation and invested further into my steadily increasing revenue. I bought an army of child soldiers from Niger and protected my empire. They tacked a name on me. They called me the ‘Opium Supremacy’. The UN couldn’t even interfere because I had them in my back pocket.

These children! Children! I called out to them once more. I saved them. I gave them five cents a day and even provided free gun training. I was more than an opportunist, I was a savior.

I was more than a savior, I was a king.