I will gladly accept any kind of criticism.
In a famous quote by José Ortega y Gasset, the Spanish philosopher proclaims, \"Yo soy yo y mi circunstancia\" (1914). José Quintans, master of the Biological Sciences Collegiate Division at the University of Chicago, sees it another way: \"Yo soy yo y mi microbioma\" (2012). You are you and your..? (Suggested Limit 500 Words, I wrote 582 Words)
Simply put, you are you and your beliefs. Notice how I did not use thoughts or opinions, as they are not the same things as beliefs. Thoughts exist only in the mind and opinions are merely the communication of thoughts. However, for something to be a belief, action and conviction must be a part of the picture. To prove my point, I'm going to bring in Mr. Example. He hears someone recounting the tale of an unfortunate event in which a group of white teenagers beat-up a younger Hispanic kid and thinks to himself, That's horrible. Later on, he gets into a discussion with a friend about racism and voices how horrible he thinks it is. However, when he runs into a situation involving racism, Mr. Example does absolutely nothing to stop the situation. Did he think racism was wrong? Yes. Did he showcase his opinion about racism? Yes. Did he believe that racism was wrong? No. Mr. Example did not believe that racism was wrong because when faced with an opportunity to take meaningful action, he avoided it. In the end, he lacked the conviction necessary to turn his thoughts and opinions into a living, breathing belief.
Based on this example, it's apparent that a belief is not made up of thoughts or opinions, but action. Behind a belief, however, there is something else; a driving force. For a long time, I had a difficult time understanding what that was. What makes someone believe in one thing and not believe in another? I finally got a glimpse of it when I was forced to evaluate my own beliefs.
Leading into my junior season of baseball, everything was going great. I had a fairly successful football season, my grades were where they should have been, and my play on the diamond had never been better. This was going to be the year that I would finally show everyone just how good I really was. However, disaster struck in the form of an injury before I even got the chance to strut my stuff. I was powerless to do anything but sit in the dugout and watch my teammates play the game I loved. If that wasn't bad enough, I could hear the whispers, "He might not be able play again" or "He'll be a lot worse when he gets cleared."
At that point, I decided to take a good, long look at myself. I could tell by the way my teammates acted towards me that they honestly believed the things they were saying about me, but did I believe it? Did I believe that my injury would make me worse or did I believe that I could come back in the best shape of my life? Well, I knew one thing; proving people wrong was fun. At that point, I decided to take every opportunity to improve myself. So I battled through weakness, pain, rehab, weight training, and tedious mechanical corrections to make it work. As a result, I shattered everybody's expectations. Just because I believed I could.
After that experience, I gained a greater understanding of what a belief really is and what it can reveal about a person. It shows what a person is committed to and just how far they will go to prove their commitment. More importantly, it gives you a glimpse into a person's heart, as a belief is one of the few things that can strip away the false blockades society corrals us into putting up.
In a famous quote by José Ortega y Gasset, the Spanish philosopher proclaims, \"Yo soy yo y mi circunstancia\" (1914). José Quintans, master of the Biological Sciences Collegiate Division at the University of Chicago, sees it another way: \"Yo soy yo y mi microbioma\" (2012). You are you and your..? (Suggested Limit 500 Words, I wrote 582 Words)
Simply put, you are you and your beliefs. Notice how I did not use thoughts or opinions, as they are not the same things as beliefs. Thoughts exist only in the mind and opinions are merely the communication of thoughts. However, for something to be a belief, action and conviction must be a part of the picture. To prove my point, I'm going to bring in Mr. Example. He hears someone recounting the tale of an unfortunate event in which a group of white teenagers beat-up a younger Hispanic kid and thinks to himself, That's horrible. Later on, he gets into a discussion with a friend about racism and voices how horrible he thinks it is. However, when he runs into a situation involving racism, Mr. Example does absolutely nothing to stop the situation. Did he think racism was wrong? Yes. Did he showcase his opinion about racism? Yes. Did he believe that racism was wrong? No. Mr. Example did not believe that racism was wrong because when faced with an opportunity to take meaningful action, he avoided it. In the end, he lacked the conviction necessary to turn his thoughts and opinions into a living, breathing belief.
Based on this example, it's apparent that a belief is not made up of thoughts or opinions, but action. Behind a belief, however, there is something else; a driving force. For a long time, I had a difficult time understanding what that was. What makes someone believe in one thing and not believe in another? I finally got a glimpse of it when I was forced to evaluate my own beliefs.
Leading into my junior season of baseball, everything was going great. I had a fairly successful football season, my grades were where they should have been, and my play on the diamond had never been better. This was going to be the year that I would finally show everyone just how good I really was. However, disaster struck in the form of an injury before I even got the chance to strut my stuff. I was powerless to do anything but sit in the dugout and watch my teammates play the game I loved. If that wasn't bad enough, I could hear the whispers, "He might not be able play again" or "He'll be a lot worse when he gets cleared."
At that point, I decided to take a good, long look at myself. I could tell by the way my teammates acted towards me that they honestly believed the things they were saying about me, but did I believe it? Did I believe that my injury would make me worse or did I believe that I could come back in the best shape of my life? Well, I knew one thing; proving people wrong was fun. At that point, I decided to take every opportunity to improve myself. So I battled through weakness, pain, rehab, weight training, and tedious mechanical corrections to make it work. As a result, I shattered everybody's expectations. Just because I believed I could.
After that experience, I gained a greater understanding of what a belief really is and what it can reveal about a person. It shows what a person is committed to and just how far they will go to prove their commitment. More importantly, it gives you a glimpse into a person's heart, as a belief is one of the few things that can strip away the false blockades society corrals us into putting up.