This i Believe

http://thisibelieve.org/essay/21253/

This essay from the "this i believe" website is written by a man who grew up in the projects named Frank X. Walker.
When I first started looking around the "Believe" website I didn't quite know what I wanted to find/ read. This is a reoccuring theme in my life. I often feel that there are a million different paths and directions that I can choose from, but don't know which would be right for me. Frankly, I'd like to try them all, but as we undergrads well know there are never enough hours in the day.
So I started in by clicking on "browsing by theme." There were many that caught my eye and I sorta checked them out, but then I saw the one labeled "purpose." I mean Perfect!! since I'm always looking for a little direction in life.
This man's story revolves around the idea that we are all creative, not just the "painters, artists, and sculptors." This to me was eye-opening. I often label myself as not creative at all because I'm not artistically nor musically talented. I settle myself for the practicality aspect of whatever I'm doing and leave the creativity for those with freer-minds. But what Walker writes is that he believes there is creativity in our everyday aspects. Because we are all different human beings, each one of us is creative. What a wonderful celebration of diversity at it's root level, and especially so, based off of last week's class.





I believe in Responsibility.

LIFTERS AND LEANERS

There are just two kinds of people on earth today,
Just two kinds of people, no more, I say.
Not the rich and the poor, for to count a man’s wealth
You must first know the state of his conscience and health.
Not the humble and proud, for, in life’s little span,
Who puts on airs is not counted a man.
Not the happy and sad, for the swift counting years
Bring each man his laughter and each man his tears.
No, the two kinds of people on earth I mean
Are the people who lift and the people who lean.
Wherever you go you will find the world’s masses
Are always divided in just these two classes.
And oddly enough you will find, too, I ween,
There’s only one lifter to twenty who lean.
In which class are you? Are you easing the load
Of overtaxed lifters who toil down the road?
Or are you a leaner who lets others bear
Your portion of labour and worry and care?

- Ella Wheeler Wilcox -

My dad first read this poem to my brother and I when we were just starting to realize ourselves and our actions (I'd say about 10 and 12). He said that this was a poem his father had read to him when he was young and wanted us to know it. Eric (my brother) and I would always dread when he would whip this poem out at the dinner table because we knew it came with a lecture, all be it a gentle one, following the reading of the poem.
However, where I stand now, I think responsibility is one of my core values.  I believe in responsibility for yourself and actions and how they will affect your life and the lives of others around you. I believe that if you are able to work you have a responsibility to do so and not be a drag on society. I believe that you have a responsibility to be a "lifter."
What does responsibility mean? As defined by Webster's Dictionary "responsibility" means that you are liable to be called on to answer for an action. What I interpret this to mean is that you have an obligation to understand what your actions will mean for others and if they will be an improvement on the world around you. I think one has a responsibility to family, work, and integrity, with many other things in between.
My first encounter with responsibility came in school (mundane example,but it played a big role in my life), I always knew I wanted good grades because I wanted to be able to go to a good university. My actions in school would have a direct correlation to where my future was headed.

My most recent example of responsibility was seen in the classroom with you, my fellow ELPers. When standing in that line, and understanding what those who had been hurt by differences and stereotypes had to say, I realized that this was another instance of responsibility. Negative phrases are said everyday and have an obviously hurting effect on others. Although we might not have recognized it, now from this class we have been educated and I believe that we have the responsibility to rectify our actions.

I believe that you must own up for your actions, no matter their size. I believe that we must strive to improve our world, not just throw it away. I believe that we must be conscientious of ourselves because we must be aware of the effects we have on others. I believe that we are responsible.