I Believe

As I was driving home from work yesterday, hoping to make it home on the fumes left in the car's gas tank, I thought about how coming to GE and learning how things work all over again, was like being a freshman at a new place. I then remembered an assignment we did before school started my freshman year. The assignment was to read the book This I Believe. A book of short essays or stories of how people came to believe in what they did. People like Albert Einstein and Hellen Keller, explaining why they believed what they did. As a New Student Orientation chair in the fall, I witnessed the new recruits reading This I Believe II. So I did some thinking yesterday, about what I believe in, and how my beliefs have changed over the last 20 years. This is what I came up with:

          I believe that all people are entitled to their own beliefs, but I also believe that I am entitled to disagree with those beliefs.
          I believe that all people, no matter what their gender, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or mental or physical abilities, deserve to be treated with equal respect and dignity.
          I believe that there is higher power in the world, no matter what name you call it by
          I believe that death is the last big adventure in your life's journey
          I believe that the only way to be truly happy, is in one way or another, to help others be happy too
          I believe that family is one of the best and most important gifts we are given in our life
          I believe that my best friends are really just my extended family
          I believe that telling someone you love them, and actually meaning it, is one of the hardest things to do
          I believe that if you put words into song, you automatically have added more meaning to them
          I believe that classical music can make you feel more than any other kind of music
          I believe that the people who live without love in their lives are the poorest of us all
          I believe that a good book can be the best escape from reality
          I believe that if it was possible in any way, I would live in Target
          I believe that hard work pays off in the long run
          I believe that I have learned far more from life than I have from every textbook I've ever used, put together
          I believe that working together always beats working alone
          I believe that a good cry can be more therapeutic than seeing a therapist
          I believe The Beatles pretty much had it right when it comes to love, you can't buy it, and it's all we need in life
          I believe that laughing until I cry with my friends is the best way to feel better
          Finally, I believe sometimes you just need to eat some ice cream, turn on a chick flick, and remember why you're glad your life is not a movie, but is real.