Many people play games with friends and family at holiday gatherings. When we play these games, we may not be thinking any deeper than the game in front of us. But for these essayists, a game of friendly competition brings about thoughts of community, family, and even deeper philosophy. Click the links below to read how these essayists feel about playing games.

1. The Cards Will Hear You
2. A Game of Cards
3. Role-Playing Games: Where Belief Comes From
4. Scrabble Makes my Life Clear
5. My Legacy of Playing Games

We can give with our money, we can give of our time, we can give with a smile and an open heart. In this season of giving, our essayists offer their beliefs on the importance of connecting and sharing with each other. Happy holidays from This I Believe.

1. In Giving I Connect With Others
2. Here Comes (the Real) Santa Claus
3. All The Joy The World Contains
4. Why I Close My Restaurant
5. The Designated Celebrator

What makes you happy? Is it the attainment of the latest gadgets or a new, bigger car? How about getting a raise at work or winning the lottery? Does money really make us happy? Click the links below to read how these essayists feel about finding happiness with what they have.

1. Creating Our Own Happiness
2. Happy Talk
3. Make It Do
4. Just Say No
5. Happy With What I Have

Thanksgiving marks the start of the holiday season, with the attendant gatherings of family over food and drink. Regardless of the context, sitting down to share a meal can affirm our connections, our roots, and our traditions. Click the links below to partake of these beliefs about food and family.

1. Doing Things the Slow Way
2. Come to My Table
3. Rice for Thanksgiving
4. A Home-Cooked Tradition
5. Finding Acceptance in Macaroni and Cheese

There is perhaps no time that belief is more emphatically tested, and acted upon, than in war. For this Veterans Day, five essayists who served in the American military from World War I through the Iraq War tell how their experiences shaped their beliefs.

1. Toward a Far, Far Better World
2. Revelations on a Bomb Run
3. An Equal Place on Earth
4. Patriotic Ponderings
5. We Will See the Job Through

As we get ready to vote in the mid-term elections, here are some essays on the democratic process. From learning how voting can change lives, to reflecting on the votes cast over an entire lifetime, elections give voice to the hopes and aspirations we have for our country.

1. An Act of Faith in America
2. One Person’s Vote
3. My Opinions Matter
4. The Value of the Middle
5. Throwing Away the Labels

Hope is a commodity that many find in short supply. We can hope for things grand or mundane, but all hope embodies a faith and optimism that good can come to the world. Click the links below to read the hopes of these essayists.

1. Hope Sustains Me
2. Tomorrow Will Be a Better Day
3. Recovering the Hope of Children
4. Hope Has Amazing Energy
5. The 50-Percent Theory of Life

As fall is around the corner with cooler days and turning leaves, it’s a perfect time for a hike among the trees. Whether for pleasure, exercise, or solitude, a walk in the woods can also inspire belief. Click the links below to learn what our essayists discovered out in nature.

1. Forty Acres Of Freedom
2. Living Life With ‘Grace And Elegant Treeness’
3. To Disappear Into The Woods
4. Walking With Trees
5. Fully Immersing Ourselves In Nature

Throughout the school year, young people around the world write statements of belief as a classroom exercise. And thousands of those students have submitted their essays to our series. Click the links below to read a sampling of what young people believe.

1. Thirty Things I Believe
2. Being Content with Myself
3. Finding the Flexibility to Survive
4. The Triumph of Kindness
5. Find a Good Frog
6. The Real Me

As children, we’re taught to be wary of strangers. But random encounters with people we don’t know can lead to surprising insights about others and opportunities to learn more about ourselves. Click the links below to read this selection of essays about life lessons learned from strangers.

1. Do Talk to Strangers
2. Opening the Door of Mercy
3. Important Strangers
4. Inviting the World to Dinner
5. Becoming Friends