Essay about what Melody's 'friends' lack in Out of my mind

The essay

How does respect and responsibility play a role in communities? Respect and responsibility are very important elements in good communities. Being respectful and being responsible are very good qualities and can help your community thrive. However, if people don't respect others and aren't responsible, that can have consequences, negative ones.

For example, in the book Out of my mind by Sharon M. Draper, Melody is a girl with a special condition but is very smart. She was able to get into a special team that competes with other teams to win an award and a trip to Washington D.C. Her teammates, however, look at the fact that she is very different from them and on the day of the finals for the competition, they go out for breakfast early and don't invite Melody because, and I quote, "We figured you'd slow us down because you have to be fed and stuff."

They had no respect for Melody and just saw her as a hindrance, as the text evidence proves. They finished their breakfast quickly and got to the airport extra early where they were informed that their noon flight had been cancelled but had the chance to make it to the early flight if they hurried. So they did but someone had to inform Melody. So one of Melody's teammates reminded Mr. Dimming about that. Mr. Dimming asked Rose to do so, as she had her number. Was Rose responsible enough to call her friend and tell her? Well, Rose looked at the rest of the kids on the team and they all shook their heads no. So neither Rose, or any of Melody's teammates were responsible enough to call Melody or tell Rose to call her and so, Rose never made the call. The team did end up losing and the reporter that came to interview them wasn't interested in them because Melody wasn't there, and so, the team failed and were very disappointed. If the team respected Melody enough to treat her as their teammate and invite her to breakfast, or, at the very least, if they had informed her about the flight and had been responsible, perhaps they would not feel like terrible people, which, because of how they made the wrong decisions, they are. This teaches us that respect and responsibility are very important things in our community and when you don't have those qualities, there will be negative consequences, as this tells us.