This I Believe
Credo
I believe in family. The uniqueness of each individual family is what sets them apart from one another, without this we would be the same. The experiences that are felt together along with individual experiences are what help shape a person into who they are. It’s the individuality of every person that makes people decide if they like them or not, the things you see with them that stick out in your mind. Everything that is done with family, whether big or small is important. It’s something that should be cherished because it can leave at any moment. Some memories may stick out more than others, some may occasionally make an appearance in your mind, but they are all there and they all shape a person. Without family a person is just a person, not a unique individual that is different from the next. If every person wasn’t unique there would really be no reason for anything. Anybody could do anything but with outside factors shaping who we are it makes us different from anyone. Family gives a sense of peace to people, the feeling that you always have someone that you can always go to with a problem and they will help you find a resolution. They will support you. They will do anything for you. They are your family.
It's All About Family
There is a statement that has been made many times throughout my life which I always ignored because I didn’t understand it or why it mattered until recently. “You don’t know what you have until it’s lost,” is the statement that I am talking about. It is true; I really didn’t know what I had until I lost it.
By this statement I am talking about a few people, but my grandfather in particular, who has now passed. While he was still around I could talk to him I never really felt a very strong connection. I didn’t realize how much I really cared about him until he was gone.
As I said, I never realized what I was missing until it was gone, and it was gone. At this point a common thought on this essay would be that it doesn’t have a real purpose except to tell a story, but that story is what brought my family closer together. Made us all one, made me realize how key family really is. Although it took sad circumstances to help me understand how important family really is, I now feel like I need to help other people realize how important it really is and just to not take it for granted, be with them when you can, unless of course it is, for instance, an absolutely terrible event, than by all means, everyone needs their space. For the most part though, be with them and don’t take them for granted.
It’s the same concept with friends, you find someone that you think is fantastic and you become great friends, but then out of nowhere they say they’re going to leave, and they do. I mean, it’s not exactly the same because you can stay in contact for a while, but in the end for the most part, even that stops because people change and move on. You may still think about them occasionally, but not actually reach out and contact them. I’m just saying the end result can be similar in some situations.
Not everyone or every family needs to have a huge event bring them together, but it is like that sometimes. Another reason why you don’t always see them is because of making excuses, or at least that is why I don’t. I mean I said before that if it’s terrible you don’t need to go, but at the same time I know that typically something won’t be as bad as you think it’s going to be.
Clearly I’m not only talking about family, but about everyone that you may encounter. Just be a person that people want to be around. Make yourself the person that when you are gone other people miss. Don’t take your friends or family or really anyone for granted because in a single heartbeat your entire life can change. Make it a point to help people understand how important they are to you. Just be a good person. That’s really all I mean.
By this statement I am talking about a few people, but my grandfather in particular, who has now passed. While he was still around I could talk to him I never really felt a very strong connection. I didn’t realize how much I really cared about him until he was gone.
As I said, I never realized what I was missing until it was gone, and it was gone. At this point a common thought on this essay would be that it doesn’t have a real purpose except to tell a story, but that story is what brought my family closer together. Made us all one, made me realize how key family really is. Although it took sad circumstances to help me understand how important family really is, I now feel like I need to help other people realize how important it really is and just to not take it for granted, be with them when you can, unless of course it is, for instance, an absolutely terrible event, than by all means, everyone needs their space. For the most part though, be with them and don’t take them for granted.
It’s the same concept with friends, you find someone that you think is fantastic and you become great friends, but then out of nowhere they say they’re going to leave, and they do. I mean, it’s not exactly the same because you can stay in contact for a while, but in the end for the most part, even that stops because people change and move on. You may still think about them occasionally, but not actually reach out and contact them. I’m just saying the end result can be similar in some situations.
Not everyone or every family needs to have a huge event bring them together, but it is like that sometimes. Another reason why you don’t always see them is because of making excuses, or at least that is why I don’t. I mean I said before that if it’s terrible you don’t need to go, but at the same time I know that typically something won’t be as bad as you think it’s going to be.
Clearly I’m not only talking about family, but about everyone that you may encounter. Just be a person that people want to be around. Make yourself the person that when you are gone other people miss. Don’t take your friends or family or really anyone for granted because in a single heartbeat your entire life can change. Make it a point to help people understand how important they are to you. Just be a good person. That’s really all I mean.
Reflection
The assignment for this project was to find something that we feel very strong about and write about our perspective on it. There were many assignments that lead up to the final writing piece, some of which were done before we even officially started school. In order to get ourselves to think about what we were very adamant about we began with asking our parents questions. These questions were really only to get us to think about what we have been taught through our years of growing up. Another assignment that was assigned to us that was also important to helping us decide what our perspective was was to just read a couple of the essays on the This I Believe website. We had to look at what was good and what was bad about them. One last assignment that we did before we chose our beliefs and started writing was to write our own credos. We had to write three credos about what we believed and then based upon those we needed to chose which we liked the most.
Some of these questions were "What is one thing you want me to remember when I go off to college in a few years?" My moms response to this was kind of stereotypical, she said to never give up on anything, no matter how difficult it is. This, in fact, was gave me my idea for my original essay. As I thought more and more about this potentially being what my essay is about, I didn't like it. I felt like it was something that I didn't really know what to say something about, so I sat and thought. I came up the with idea for family because I realized I didn't see them enough. I felt like saying it on paper might help me, as well as other people, see their family some more. It actually worked for me, I went to a wedding that I really didn't want to got to just because as I wrote I felt like something was missing from my life.
In this essay I am most proud of the personal thought and voice that went into it. At times it may sound like something that anyone could write, but at others I feel like it has my voice in it. I like that about writing. I don't like writing that doesn't sound personal. Most writing that I do I try to make sound personal and like something that I would say if you were talking to me. Writing is something that I really enjoy to do, in fact I look forward to any project that I can write for. I have issues writing short pieces, such as this. Honestly, this started out at over 1,000 words, and I wasn't sure if I wanted to publish it on the This I Believe website. I ended up deciding that, even if I don't publish it, I still want to cut it down to make it concise. I cut it down to the limit for publishing, 500 words exactly, but I still haven't decided if I want publish it or not.
I think that my essay needs refinement in the way of more critique. I don't feel like the critique that I got was as much as I needed and wanted, so I would like some more so my essay sounds better. I think it would also be good to cut even more out to make it more concise because I feel like it still strays from the topic at hand. Besides those two things though, I am proud of my essay and I don't really want to change anything. As I said before, it's the personal tone that sells it for me and makes me not want to change many things.
As I said in the second paragraph of my reflection, writing this essay made me realize what I was really missing from my life. I realized that family really truly is important and I made an effort to see them. This is one of the best things that has come out of my writing for me at least. Usually I just write what flows through my mind, but I never really take it to heart and think about it deeply. Because I had to cut this down quite a bit from its original stage, I really had to read it over and over and think about what I really believe and why I believe it. In a way the essay is hypocritical because I'm saying to see them when I'm not, or at least wasn't. This has really opened my eyes to what I am writing and I'm going to start to pay attention to what I'm writing to make sure that it is as thought out has it can be.
Some of these questions were "What is one thing you want me to remember when I go off to college in a few years?" My moms response to this was kind of stereotypical, she said to never give up on anything, no matter how difficult it is. This, in fact, was gave me my idea for my original essay. As I thought more and more about this potentially being what my essay is about, I didn't like it. I felt like it was something that I didn't really know what to say something about, so I sat and thought. I came up the with idea for family because I realized I didn't see them enough. I felt like saying it on paper might help me, as well as other people, see their family some more. It actually worked for me, I went to a wedding that I really didn't want to got to just because as I wrote I felt like something was missing from my life.
In this essay I am most proud of the personal thought and voice that went into it. At times it may sound like something that anyone could write, but at others I feel like it has my voice in it. I like that about writing. I don't like writing that doesn't sound personal. Most writing that I do I try to make sound personal and like something that I would say if you were talking to me. Writing is something that I really enjoy to do, in fact I look forward to any project that I can write for. I have issues writing short pieces, such as this. Honestly, this started out at over 1,000 words, and I wasn't sure if I wanted to publish it on the This I Believe website. I ended up deciding that, even if I don't publish it, I still want to cut it down to make it concise. I cut it down to the limit for publishing, 500 words exactly, but I still haven't decided if I want publish it or not.
I think that my essay needs refinement in the way of more critique. I don't feel like the critique that I got was as much as I needed and wanted, so I would like some more so my essay sounds better. I think it would also be good to cut even more out to make it more concise because I feel like it still strays from the topic at hand. Besides those two things though, I am proud of my essay and I don't really want to change anything. As I said before, it's the personal tone that sells it for me and makes me not want to change many things.
As I said in the second paragraph of my reflection, writing this essay made me realize what I was really missing from my life. I realized that family really truly is important and I made an effort to see them. This is one of the best things that has come out of my writing for me at least. Usually I just write what flows through my mind, but I never really take it to heart and think about it deeply. Because I had to cut this down quite a bit from its original stage, I really had to read it over and over and think about what I really believe and why I believe it. In a way the essay is hypocritical because I'm saying to see them when I'm not, or at least wasn't. This has really opened my eyes to what I am writing and I'm going to start to pay attention to what I'm writing to make sure that it is as thought out has it can be.