I believe in the beauty of life and that our happiness is in our own hands. I believe that being yourself can create this happiness, whether people approve of who you are or not. I believe in fate however, where we choose our own road to follow but are unable to choose the road blocks ahead. The first time I experienced realizing the real, true beauty of life was on the Ben Franklin Bridge, coming back from the shore when I was 11. It was night time and lights of Philadelphia flashed past. As I looked out my window, I felt something pass over me. It was a feeling where I just saw beauty in each light and realized how absolutely lucky I was to be alive and living the fantastic life I was living. The feeling actually even brought a tear from my eye; it was one of those completely sappy moments no one wants to admit. However, at that point nothing inspired me more than the beautifully lit city.
From a young age I learned the following lesson: you are who you are, and there is no one or nothing that can change that. Being a dancer, I had to deal with a bunch of taunts and remarks from my classmates who at the time were unable to look past their beliefs and into mine. No doubt the things they said got me down, and made me feel absolutely crappy, but I learned that I was being myself and that's all I wanted to do. At the time, me being strong and taking what people said but not analyzing it gave me the ablitily to be who I am, and no one could ask for more.
I think my mom has to do with a lot of my beliefs. When I was having hard times with kids in my grade she was the one to give me advice and tell me just to be myself and nothing more. She never forced a belief on me but instead taught me the value in one's self. There is a broad influential group of people who have shaped my beliefs: disease patients. It seems slightly weird but whenever I see someone I know battling a life terminating disease I think, if there really is a God, that people pray to, why would he allow people to die painful deaths? Now I also believe that people have the right to believe in whatever they want, but this did make me think. I decided that whether there is a God or not, fate determines people's "road blocks."
In my life so far, I have not had any experiences in which my beliefs have changed, but I have had situations where I had to test myself with my beliefs and realize that sometimes it's easier said than done. Whether what I believe is to change in the future (which I'm sure it will) or not, I will still have something to believe in and that right there gives me the oppurtunity to be whoever I want to be.
You did a great job writing this. I was very detailed.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Sam. You are an amazing dancer. I am glad you didn't give up on the idea because of what others have said.
ReplyDelete3/5 You've got great ideas. Now, you need to organize them in a structure that demonstrates your fluency. You mesh two wonderful ideas together that need separation and transition: dancing and disease patients. A separate paragraph with topic sentences, transitions, and supporting ideas would have made this stronger. Also, your sentence,"I believe in fate however, where we choose our own road to follow but are unable to choose the road blocks ahead," needs clarifying. Perhaps you could have said this: I believe in fate. I think we choose the road to follow, but are unable to avoid the blocks ahead.