This I Believe

Princeton - Charlotte, North Carolina
Entered on September 7, 2006
Age Group: Under 18
  • Bellarmine University — Education, unabridged

This I Believe

Of course at first I had no idea what to write about. My English teacher had just asked me to describe everything I’d ever learned, the very subconscious beliefs that drive my actions and life changing decisions; in 500 words or less. At first the task seemed daunting, even impossible. I’m a 16 year old kid who loves to be lazy, eat junk food, and hang out with friends. That’s it. Or so I thought.

Earlier on in preparing for this assignment I came across a quote by bum Philips that read “the only discipline that lasts, is self discipline.” At first thought I believed that this mean having the motivation to take care of yourself, exercising and such. But when I thought deeply about it, it lead me to a much deeper revelation about my core belief: you can go to as many churches and synagogues as you want but in the end the only one who can tell you what your religion should be, or it’s true significance can only be the individual who believes such. In other words you can’t let people decide things for you. You must be able to speak for yourself and find your own morals and virtues to guide you. For example throughout history the Holy Bible has been twisted and turned so that every word means something else and no one understands it no matter how many times King James translates it. As a matter of fact it is so confusing that the fictional book the Da Vinci Code could be mistaken to contain more truth than the Bible itself. I truly believe that even if the Bible were written on a 1st grade reading level people would still twist and turn it until it’s about as clear as a kaleidoscope.

Once I heard a quote saying “you are only worth as much as the people that you associate with.” Well if that’s true then I must not be worth very much but thanks to this assignment I have managed to accomplish something that many others refuse and maybe are even afraid to do. And if I can do that then I have to say that quote has to be way off because knowing your beliefs and what you stand for musts always worth something.