Essay of the Week
Curt Columbus feels that our increasing reliance on technology is making us more isolated and less interactive with each other. By regularly visiting with neighbors, Columbus believes these small conversations and connections are the key to a vibrant democratic society. Click here to read his essay.Life Lessons Learned from Strangers
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 here to read this selection of essays about life lessons learned from strangers.Top 100 Essays USB Drive
This USB drive contains 100 of the top This I Believe audio broadcasts of the last ten years, plus some favorites from Edward R. Murrow's radio series of the 1950s. It's perfect for personal or classroom use! Click here to learn more.
Browse Essays By Theme
Use this feature to browse through the tens of thousands of essays that have been submitted to This I Believe. Select a theme to see a listing of essays that address the selected theme.
The number to the right of each theme indicates how many essays have been tagged with that particular theme.
- addiction (1108)
- afterlife (526)
- America & patriotism (1672)
- atheism (272)
- birth (448)
- brotherhood & friendship (4466)
- carpe diem (3558)
- change (3855)
- charity & service (1723)
- children (2552)
- Christianity (1421)
- citizenship (512)
- community (2226)
- courage (2535)
- creativity (4660)
- death (3588)
- democracy (333)
- disability (709)
- discrimination (891)
- education & knowledge (4557)
- empathy & compassion (2749)
- environment (1080)
- equality (1706)
- faith & religion (5204)
- family (13235)
- fear (1075)
- forgiveness (1436)
- freedom (1100)
- golden rule (1170)
- good & evil (1959)
- goodness & kindness (3496)
- government & constitution (570)
- gratitude (2963)
- Holocaust (68)
- hope (3660)
- humanism (943)
- humility (544)
- humor & laughter (1553)
- humor & laughter (1)
- illness (2215)
- immigrant (850)
- injustice (506)
- integrity (1849)
- legacy (1708)
- love (6461)
- morality (705)
- music (1379)
- nature (1771)
- parenthood (1940)
- patriotism (1724)
- peace (820)
- pets & animals (1459)
- place (1015)
- pleasure (2454)
- popular culture (2449)
- prejudice (753)
- purpose (2975)
- question (2338)
- race (728)
- respect (2065)
- responsibility (2345)
- science (873)
- self-determination (10794)
- self-knowledge (15706)
- setbacks (5324)
- social justice (890)
- sports (3863)
- tolerance (1572)
- values & spirituality (6083)
- war (840)
- work (4887)
