Any paid work is better than no paid work?

Sometimes. Especially for students or aprentices. This gives you the experience that would look good on your resume when you are ready to work.

For people who do not have a job, that helps close gap between paid jobs.

I cant really gove you an answer,but what I can give you is a way to a solution, that is you have to find the anglde that you relate to or peaks your interest. A good paper is one that people get drawn into because it reaches them ln some way.As for me WW11 to me, I think of the holocaust and the effect it had on the survivors, their families and those who stood by and did nothing until it was too late.