I BELIEVE!

I Believe (DJ Khaled song)

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I began performing when I was three or four years old. My dance season began in late August and finished mid-June, and I went to ballet camps in the summer. This cycle continued for most of my childhood, and only intensified when I started high school. Growing up, I was someone who eagerly awaited my sixteenth birthday, counting down the days until I could finally drive.

I craved the freedom that came with a license, not having to rely on my parents to pick me up from practice or drive me to work. Like many of my friends, though, the first car I drove was old and beat up. Normally, I have a lot of anxiety about talking on the phone. I try to avoid phone calls at all costs. But my parents are one of the few exceptions. I believe in simplicity.

I believe in the magic of sharing homemade peanut butter sandwich crackers in the back of the afternoon school bus. I believe in tattered baseball caps worn in with sun spots. I believe in seeing the yellow flowers people call weeds for the beauty they are.

There was just traveling across the ocean through the eyes of an explorer and feeling page-long names of sea creatures swim past my fingertips. A whole bunch of things in that book were made up, but I loved it. My mom recently visited me for the Penn State vs. Since we live in California, she only gets the opportunity to visit once a semester, so we always try to make the most of our time together.

Here, I live in a house with eleven of my close friends. When my mom came to visit, she treated us all to dinner. My friends went out of their way to thank her more than once.

At the end of the night, my mom pulled me aside to comment on how polite my friends were and how nice they seemed. As the aroma of freshly brewed coffee and chocolate chip muffins envelops us, my mom neatly pens what we need for the week. He has a point. I believe in my religion. More specifically, I believe in having the option to choose whether or not I believe in my religion. When I first left home for college, I was away from my family and had the freedom to discover my own beliefs. I was quickly bombarded with questions about beliefs that had always felt so normal to me.

I believe in fat. This is me speaking, not my eating disorder convincing me that my body is a worthless, loathsome shell. I studied abroad for one month in Seville, Spain, taking a course on podcast reporting. Growing up in Penns Valley, I became accustomed to a community that shared the fruits of its labor. Fresh produce was abundant due to the many farmers in the area, and neighbors shared recipes and baked dishes for friends in need. I see them everywhere, every day. Whether it be between a comment a housemate made and a thought I had a couple months ago, or between an article I read online and the rules of a card game I used to play when I was younger.

But the best kinds of connections are the ones between people.

WPSU's This I Believe

This is my second This I Believe essay. The first was in when I extolled the virtues of the Chicago Cubs as a metaphor for the game of life. You may have setbacks, but like the Cubs you have to persevere. When I was younger, I wanted another sibling. As much as I loved my two little brothers, I always wished for a sister. Thankfully at the age of 10, I was finally granted my wish.

My parents told me I had a new baby sister on the way.

I Believe (Frankie Laine song)

I was also told something else. My sister was going to have something a little extra special about her. She was going to have Down syndrome. I was mostly just worried, unsure of what Down syndrome would mean for me and what it would mean for my baby sister. I sat at different lunch tables every day. I hung out with people older than me.

We call them out on cold, rainy nights. Now, college professor Sarah Adams tells us why her life philosophy is built around being cool to the pizza delivery dude. Click here to read her essay. Tony Hawk has turned what many consider a childhood activity into a professional career.

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Now, the Brooklyn attorney believes those simple acts of human kindness are as important as the grand heroic gestures. As half of the magic act Penn and Teller, Penn Jillette enjoys challenging his audiences with the unconventional. In stating his personal credo, Jillette finds liberation in believing there is no God. Like the s movement, Abdur-Rahman believes black is beautiful and not a condition she should have to rise above. Delia Motavalli has grown up watching movies about fairy tales and princesses.

Massachusetts teenager Kamaal Majeed believes being content with himself and defining his own life are more important than adhering to any racial stereotypes that his peers may try to force upon him. When Alexxandra Shuman was in eighth grade, she was diagnosed with clinical depression.

But it took more than medication for her to feel happy again. Shuman believes she has to look in the right places in order to find happiness. Click here for the full essay Throughout the school year, young people around the world write statements of belief as a classroom exercise. Click here to read a sampling of what young people believe.

Click here to read this selection of essays about life lessons learned from strangers. The moments of transition that we mark with a see you soon, a goodbye, or a farewell can leave a lasting impression on a person. Click here to read how these essayists have been inspired by saying goodbye. For those who came to this country from distant lands generations ago, to the recently naturalized citizen, the American dream is a powerful draw for people around the world.

This I Believe

Click here to learn the beliefs that immigration has inspired in these essayists. The hopes and passions of these students are evident, even as they write in a second language.

Click here to learn what these Chinese students believe. Each year, the U. Martin Luther King, Jr.

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