This I Believe

Okay, so, as usual it's been forever since I've posted here. I feel like a broken record, because it seems that every post starts out that way. Perhaps this will improve but knowing me there is an excellent chance it won't.

Anyway, back to the current blog...on Sunday my book club met at Baker's Square (yay! pie!) for our meeting, to discuss "This I Believe," which is a book that stemmed from an NPR radio show of the same name. The book consisted of a collection of essays from both every day and famous people, all saying what it was they believed in. The essays could be about anything, obviously, but they all followed a general format. Keep it short, sweet, and to the point, and mainly focus on one core belief. As a result of reading this book, I decided (along with some of my fellow book-clubbers) to try my hand at my own "This I Believe" essay. I'm going to be honest and let you know--I did not follow the rules exactly as they were laid out. I have many beliefs and didn't feel like choosing just one at the time I wrote my essay. So mine kind of combines them all. Maybe one day soon I will make another attempt and actually follow the essay-writing rules. But for today, I am going to share with you the essay that I wrote and shared (out loud, in the middle of Baker's Square) at book club.


This I Believe

I believe in music. I believe in the freedom music brings, and the power it has to unite. No one can live without music, and few things in life have the power to touch us at the level that music does. I believe that music can heal, and that the combination of melody and lyrics is one of the most magical, powerful things in existence.

I believe in the power of love, and even more in the power of friendship. I believe you can’t have love without friendship, and that friendship is one of the most valuable things in life. I believe in family, and in being there for them no matter what, just like you would like them to be there for you. And I believe that your best friends become your family. I believe dogs (and cats) are a man’s best friend, and life would be a lot more boring and a lot more lonely without them.

I believe in doing what you love, whether you can make a living from it or not. I believe that the things we love fulfill us, and make us better people. Taking time for doing the things we love makes us like ourselves more, and makes us grateful for our talents and the thing or things that no one can ever take from us. I believe in following your dreams, even when there are obstacles in your way. If you never try in the first place, you can never know if you will fail or succeed. I believe in making time for the things you’re most passionate about, and in not making excuses for why you can’t make that time.

I believe that you don’t need religion to be a good person. Doing good things makes you a good person, and treating others with kindness and respect. I believe in accepting other people and their differences of opinion and beliefs, and I hope that they can accept mine. I believe in discussion and I believe that if more people talked more and were more tolerant of others, a lot of conflict could be avoided in the world. I believe that religion should not give you an excuse to persecute others because they are different.

I believe in learning, always learning. Learning to better yourself, and learning to know and understand the world around you. I believe in being open-minded and listening to the other side, even if you don’t always agree with it. I believe you don’t have a right to disagree with something if you don’t understand it. I believe in the power of knowledge and the power of words, and the power that those things can have when combined. I believe in using that power for good, and for change.

I believe in words. I believe in their power, and in their responsibility. They are what we use to shape the world around us, to express ourselves, and to communicate with others. They are more powerful, beautiful, wondrous and potentially dangerous than we realize. Words can be used to profess love and to spread hate; to praise or condemn; to illuminate truth and to propagate a lie. There is no better feeling in the world to me than listening to a song or reading a book and hearing the words of another expressing your own feelings. Words are everything, used everywhere, and in ways that constantly remind us we are not alone.

I believe in being yourself and following your dreams, wherever they may lead.

What's important to you? What do YOU believe in? Let me know in the comments, and hopefully I'll return soon :-)