Synthesis and Analysis Make the Grade!

I have to chuckle at my second essay, Leadership is essential.  This piece is my absolute best example of critical thinking, simply based on the fact I should've have received a failing grade, but managed a "C".  Looking back, I completely strayed from the prompt of, "As a result of your readings and interview, how can you argue for a specific function of communities in our lives?"  As you will see, I argued for a specific function of leadership in communities; according to one of the professors, my use of synthesis and analysis rescued the essay from it's seemingly inevitable fate.