Peck explains that the only way to solve a problem is to solve it-in other words, to take responsibility for the problem and find a solution. Write a paper about a time in your own life when you had to accept responsibility for a problem and figure out a solution for it. In choosing a topic for this assignment, it can be helpful to list areas in which you have experienced problems. Following, for example, is one such list:

• Getting along with parents
• Obeying the law
• Balancing a budget
• Holding a job
• Use of alcohol

When you have your list, ask yourself which of those problems you have accepted responsibility for and solved or improved. Once you have decided on a topic to write about, you might begin with a statement like this:

After years of scraping together just enough money to get from one week to the next, I've taken steps to deal with my money problems.
Support your opening statement with the following: 1) one or more examples of the problem, 2) an explanation of how and when you began to understand the problem, and 3) a detailing of the steps you have taken to deal with the problem.