This I Believe (641 hits)
Category: Quotes & StoriesRating: 1.36 on 16 reviews (Rate this item) (V)
Submitted by Kurbs <staggman.at.gmail.com> (View user info) at 2006-04-30 19:26:57 EDT
National Public Radio started a program in which people could write essays of 500 words or less, send them in, and they would be read on the air. My english teacher did his own small version of this in our classroom, we have to write a 500 word or less essay on something we beleive, and read it out loud. It could use some criticism.
Here goes.
I truly believe in the statement that to Love someone else, you must first love yourself. A friend of mine told me this in ninth grade, and it changed my life.
You see, as a child, I was often picked on, ridiculed, and generally disliked. It happens to a lot of kids, and some, like me, start to believe that what is being said is true. I felt valueless, and was searching for my value in someone else. When I couldn't find someone else, it made me feel worse, not only worthless, but alone.
She told me, in wisdom beyond her age, that in order for me to love someone else, or for them to love me, I had to first love myself. This was an enormous task, because you see, I didn't even like myself.
So, I worked on it, I tried to find something about myself that I liked, any small thing, the edge to start peeling away at years of disliking who I was. Fortunately, it was about this time I started playing guitar. Through this wood and steel, I found my edge. I found something I could like about myself, and also something for people to like about me.
Slowly, over the next year, I found more and more things to like about myself, and at about the same pace, I found more people who liked me. The friends I made during this period continue to be my strongest friends. They are the ones who helped me to get past accepting myself, into liking myself, and finally, into loving myself.
As time went on, I went from being the person with one friend in the entire school, to never being without a friend. I remember dreading the first days of classes, because I thought that I was a burden on people, sitting near them. I had to look for one kind face, and if there wasn't one, sit somewhere where people didn't want me, or at least I thought they didn't. I'm not sure which was the real truth. Now, I love myself, so people have started to love me in return. I walk into a new room, and there's almost always someone who is genuinely happy to see me.
Really, everything I am, and everything people see in me, is owed to a girl who I rarely talk to anymore. In a way, this is a token of my gratitude to her, for taking the time to tell the kid that no one loved, that to be loved, he had to first love himself.
This I Believe.
User Reviews
Submitted by Webered (user info) at 2006-05-01 16:52:52 EDT (#)
Ranking: -1
Slums never give good advice.
Submitted by CaptainThorns (user info) at 2006-05-01 09:31:12 EDT (#)
Ranking: 1
Submitted by Davros (user info) at 2006-05-01 08:03:59 (#)
Ranking: 2
I make a habit of "loving myself" at least twice a day.
-Dave
==========
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Submitted by jgreening (user info) at 2006-05-01 08:17:30 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Wow. High schooler with grammar skills.
That's +2 enough as it is,.
Submitted by Davros (user info) at 2006-05-01 08:03:59 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I make a habit of "loving myself" at least twice a day.
-Dave
Submitted by myexstaintstain (user info) at 2006-04-30 22:26:43 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
You should turn this into that radio station. It may get picked up.
Submitted by I_love_Kracka (user info) at 2006-04-30 22:25:26 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by Sacrilicious (user info) at 2006-04-30 22:06:12 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Word.
Submitted by shitfuck (user info) at 2006-04-30 21:35:30 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Toss it and take up 'crack smoking'.
Submitted by Sinistral (user info) at 2006-04-30 20:58:27 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
but hey this was good so have a +2
Submitted by Sinistral (user info) at 2006-04-30 20:58:06 EDT (#)
Ranking: 1
no thank you emo
Submitted by pragmatic (user info) at 2006-04-30 20:53:01 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I like
Submitted by Doodles (user info) at 2006-04-30 20:45:05 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by thechairnamedgod (user info) at 2006-04-30 20:08:38 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
ahahahahaha welcome to like a year ago
Submitted by Dolson (user info) at 2006-04-30 19:58:48 EDT (#)
Ranking: 1
Shit, you kick the ass of most high school kids. You may continue breathing.
Submitted by Bubba2341 (user info) at 2006-04-30 19:42:18 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Kid, I don't know you, but you can write and spell in a coherent manner.
That is more than many people can do, here or elsewhere.
I have graded thousands of papers over the years, and this would get an
"A" from me. Keep it up.
Submitted by georgemichael (user info) at 2006-04-30 19:31:23 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
that girl in ninth grade was just taking the piss