This I Believe, by Tyrone

This I Believe

I believe that men should have more awareness about abusive relationships. When men hit women, it makes women feel bad, but it makes them feel hurt and bad. I have a relative who was abused way back. It was so bad she got her finger shot off. That’s why I’m writing about the abuse of women by men and trying to make them stop the violence on their women.

I learned that men abuse their women because somebody might have messed them up when they were younger, or they might not have had a father in their life. The people who want healthy relationships should have trust and have respect. There are three types of abuse: physical, which involves slapping and hitting. Emotional, involves teasing and bullying. Sexual involves a relationship where you are forced to do something that you don’t want to do.

People can get help if they need help on their relationships. They can get help by going to a teen crisis center of some where else that will offer you counseling. There is a show called Maury that shows where you can get help. When I see that segment, I get mad because they shouldn’t treat there women like that in the first place. They should treat them like they want to be treated, not like dogs. If my family member is being abused, I am going to say something and go to the police to get some help.

The reason I feel so bad for these women is because they are getting hurt bad and they are not supposed to. They should be treated like human beings and like women. You may argue a lot, but you should not put your hands on your girlfriend. I learned from this essay that you should always love your women and not put your hands on them. Just talk to them if they are getting you mad and talk about the situation. So, I encourage all the men to not hit your women and women take up for your self and don’t let them hit you. And especially, get counseling!!!

This I Believe, by Maria

Has anyone you love ever died from cancer? I believe that the human body is a gift. When people are hurting themselves through actions that they chose to do, I question why they would do something that they know can harm them. My grandma died from cancer because she had been smoking since she was really young, maybe fifteen or sixteen.

About a year and a half ago my grandma was diagnosed with lung cancer. Within a few months of diagnoses, her body was completely taken over by cancer.

I hadn’t seen my grandma for at least two years and I didn’t think her cancer was as bad as it was. I had a lot of friends who smoked and my brother smoked so I was around it almost all of the time. I figured my grandma looked like them except with no hair since she was on chemotherapy. When I went to visit her, I barely recognized her. She looked terrible. She only weighed about 74 pounds. We could see her bones sticking out and it looked like her skin was hanging off of them. She was so weak that she couldn’t stand up without help and she barely ate anything. She couldn’t talk very well because it took to much energy out of her. I will never forget how she looked and how she sounded that day.

Five days after we left her house, my grandma, Shirley Ann Schmid, passed away. She had cancer for over a year and a half and even though her body was being eaten away with cancer, she was still smoking three to four packs of cigarettes a day.

It’s really hard to see people I love hurting themselves by doing something that could hurt them and possibly cause them to get cancer. I think smoking causes more harm to the human body than most people realize. After seeing how smoking affected my grandma and everyone who loved her, I truly believe that the human body is a gift. We should take care of it as best as we can and not do anything that we know can cause harm to us.

This I Believe, by Gerald

What do you believe in? Everyone believes in something different, whether it’s everyone should have flowers on there graves to people can wear hats in school. There are a load of things people believe in, I believe that everybody in the world has the same opportunity as everyone else. I hear people all the time talking about how they can't do it, they never had the chance or the opportunity to do anything, which is a big lie, because every single man and woman in America has the chance of a lifetime to do whatever it is they want to do.

Some people jump all over opportunity, and some people don’t jump on the opportunity. Then, they complain when they don’t get that same opportunity again. Opportunities don’t come around often, sometimes never at all. But, when you get the chance to do it, get on it and never stop. Yea, I know that people have problems, people might not have a lot of money, the biggest house, or live in the best community or whatever but the people that do had the same opportunity that you have and they made the best of it. That should be motivation for you to do it too.

An example of equal opportunity is when I had basketball tryouts, and I worked real hard over the summer working on my game doing drills and exercises like that,. This other guy who didn’t practice got cut because he wasn’t in shape and hadn't worked on his game. He told me that he didn’t have the chance that I did, I said, "Yes you did. We did the same drills, we did the same work outs, we did everything the same: you just didn’t seize the opportunity like I did to do your best." That’s what I’m talking about. You make the best of your chances.

The poorest kid in America could become the richest man ever if he puts his mind to it and takes all the opportunities he gets, and has a little patience. I’m going to make something of myself and take all the opportunities I get. That's what I believe in.

This I Believe, by Kyle

I Believe Essay

I believe that everyone has a good side to them. Even though it is sometimes hard to see, it is there. Most people don’t believe this though. People can be really bad at times, and you could thing they’re the worst thing ever. But deep down, they’re often a good person. Sometimes people are faced with difficult situations where they might have had to make a bad decision, but that one bad decision doesn’t have to characterize them completely as a horrible person.

After Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, a lot of people were forced to steal and loot goods, but they were doing it for a valid reason. FEMA wouldn’t provide what was needed in this disastrous time so the people of New Orleans had to take the situation into their own hands. Many people might have stolen food in order to provide for their family, but that shouldn’t make them bad people.

I try not to be too judgmental towards people. Just because you make one mistake, you don’t have to be a horrible person. A lot of people do bad things, and I’m not saying they have good reasons for them. But, I really believe that everyone has had some good in them at some point in them. I don’t think it’s fair to just categorize everyone as a bad person without even knowing them. It seems really unfair, nobody likes being judged like that, so why do it?

This I Believe, by Dustin

Friendship

I believe in friendship. A Friend is somebody who can talk to if you have problems, someone to hang out with and they make everyday better. Without friends, I don’t think the Earth would be a very good planet on which to live. Friends can help you even when family cant and they are with you until the end. It wouldn’t be a good life without them. When I’m upset, I can always count on my girlfriend, Elena, my best friend, Phil, or my friend Burgess to cheer me up; they’re they coolest people a man can ask for.

Friends usually tend to know more about you than anyone else because you are able to tell them things you wouldn’t feel comfortable telling anyone else. If people didn’t had friends, everyone would be stuck up, stubborn miserable people who are angry with one another. Some people are shy, and they have a very hard time making new friends. I was like that when I started school at OHS, but in time I got to know a lot of really cool people who I got along with. I tell the shy kids to just try talking to groups of individuals, and eventually, you will find the crowd you fit in with. This advice usually helps them. I have ended up being good friends with most of the people with whom I talked.

I met Phil at the beginning of the year through Elena. We became good friends. Now, I consider him to be one of my best friends. I’ve known Cameron and Vincent ever since middle school. I definitely consider them to be two of my best friends. They’re both very unique, and are both very awesome people who are fun to talk to. Friends are a great thing to have and without friendship, the world would be a terrible place where nobody would want to live; this is why I believe in friendship.

This I Believe, by Zavien

I Believe In Me

Have you ever been put down by people telling you that your not to going to get anywhere in life? I’ve been put down by lots of people in my life. Yet, do they know that putting me down is doing nothing but making me stronger in life? Sometimes you are the only person that you can trust over anybody else. That’s why I believe in me as a person.

Sometimes people put themselves down and, that’s why they never get anywhere in life. That’s the main reason why we have so many failures in this world. If you believe in yourself it shouldn’t matter what others say to you. Letting people just sit there and judge you can cause you not to have control over yourself. I’ve had times in my life where my teachers would tell me that they are more than positive that I was going to fail their class. Like always I proved them wrong. I can’t believe that teachers could say something like that. They are the ones who are supposed to encourage you when you are doing wrong.

I suspect that one of the reasons people tend to out me down before they get the chance to know who I am because I am a young black male. Statistics show that 90% of black males are either in jail or dead at 25 years old. That makes me feel that society is just setting us up to fail. That’s the main reason that I don’t believe in statistic. There are some black males out there who are 25 or older and are successful in life. Most people have others that inspire them, but I honestly inspire myself. So whenever someone puts you down in life don’t stress it. Just ignore it and believe in yourself and you will get far in life. I believe in me because I can do anything that I set my mind to regardless of statistics in the world. I trust myself as a whole to know that I can make it in life no matter what my race, religion, or age is. Believing in yourself will set a lot of goals, letting you have a good job, and getting you far in life. I believe in me.

This I Believe, by Matt

This I Believe

I really don’t know what to write about. But I’m going to write it on some friends that have changed my life. There are four guys that I’m writing about, Bill Hopkins, David Hopkins, Stephen Hopkins and Tyler Hopkins.

IT all Started With Bill Hopkins, David’s dad, and Stephen and Tyler’s grandpa. Bill lived eight houses down from my parents and I. That is were Tyler and myself always stayed every Saturday nights. We were just little kids. (like ten years old) We would stay at Bill’s house on Saturday nights. We would watch hunting videos. We would wake up on Sunday mornings and go to Church.

Bill and his Family were always in to hunting. Especially Rabbit hunting. Bill unseated that I go along hunting with them one Saturday. I told him I would, but I would have to check with my parents to make sure it was fine with them. So Bill called my dad, and asked him if I could go rabbit hunting. My dad told him that I could. I was so ready, I couldn’t wait until Saturday.

Finally it was Saturday morning, time to go rabbit hunting. It seemed like a year went by! But it was only a night. We loaded up and off we went. Bill, David, Stephen, Tyler and myself, little did I know, that day was going to change my life. We hunted all day Saturday, we had a good day we killed four rabbits. I had a awesome time, know I wonted to go every weekend.

I started going every Saturday, that I wasn’t working with my dad. Do you know how everyone looks forward to Friday I look forward to Saturday, so I could go rabbit hunting. When rabbit season ended I had nothing to do again. I would always bug Bill about when rabbit season was coming in again. He talked Stephen and Tyler in to taking me coon hunting on Saturday night. I thought he was crazy. Going hunting at night. Only little did I know how much fun I was in for! Steven and Tyler started letting me go with them on the weekends coon hunting. That’s when I feel in love with the sport.

I have been hunting with them for years. I had never owned a coon dog until about a year ago, because I had always hunted one of Stevens dogs. I was hunting a Bluetick female named bell. I told Steven and Tyler that I wonted a dog like her. Little did I know what Steven and Tyler for my birthday that was coming up in a few weeks. Steven had called and talked to my dad, and asked him if he could give bell to me for my birthday. My dad told Steven if that’s what he wonted to do, than that was fine with him. Well my birthday came around and I had a party at my house and Bill, David, Steven, Tyler came to my party. I opened all my girtfs, and I didn’t have one from Steven and Tyler, witch was weired. But I didn’t care cause they always took me hunting. Then Steven called me outside, and walked me to the back of his truck and in the dog box was bell. Steven said happy birthday Matt. I said Steven stop playing. He said that that he was for real, she is your dog. I didn’t know what to say! I was ‘SHOCKED’ and happy.

As I got older I started hunting her in some compactions hunts to win some money, and some trophies and free stuff. It took a while to learn the rules and how to hunt in the hunts. It took a while to win my first hunt but it happened, when I was 15 years old. To this day I still hunt with David, Steven, Tyler. Bill has got older and is not able to hunt anymore. David, Steven, Tyler are the best friends a guy could ask for. My dad and mom say that they are my second family.

That is what I believe in and something that has changed my life.

This I Believe, by Brittany

This I Believe

I believe that every child should have a parent that cares for them. I believe this because I grew up without both of my parents as a child.

The first three years of my life I was with my parents. We moved to Brooklyn, New York. My father started selling drugs, and my mother developed a habit of doing drugs. I think every child should have a parent who cares, and one who takes care of them, because if you don’t you’d probably feel like me. I sometime feel like nobody cares, feeling like nobody loves you, feeling like you’ve done something wrong as a child that made your parents not want you and feeling like you can’t love because all you’re going to do in the end is get torn away from that special person that you truly do care for and love.

After about two or three months, my parents moved to North Carolina and abandoned me with my two brothers with my grandmother on my father’s side. When she figured out that they weren’t coming back, she called the police. They took my brothers and I and put us into foster homes. I stayed for a year, but my brothers were picked up within two weeks, because their grandmother on their father’s side came and picked them up.

When I was four I moved in with my foster mother named Brenda. She had a son named Michael; they made me feel like I was a part of their family as a daughter and a sister. We did a lot of things together as a family such as going to the mall to shop, and going to my favorite fast food restaurant whenever we wanted. We also went to Universal Studios & Disney World; I was so excited because it was the first time I’d ever rode in a plane. After we got back to the house from our last trip, about a week or so later, I was literally taken by strangers that called themselves my “kin folk”. It felt like I was being torn away from the only family I knew. When we got back to North Carolina, I moved in with my so-called “great grandmother”, she made me feel special and she made me feel like I was a part of her family (our family). She continued to make me feel appreciated, and happy. But after about six to seven years of living with her, she started to get sick. She could no longer care for me the way she could when she first got me. So, this meant I had to either go to foster care again or get tossed around again. This time, I got tossed to my grandmother on my mother’s side. Again, I felt as if I were being torn away from somebody I really loved. Since, I’ve been with my grandmother, I’ve been to eleven different schools, I’ve had over at least fifty to sixty different teachers, and who knows how many different classmates.

This I Believe, by Pedro

This I Believe

Since four years ago, I had believed that “Words hurt more than a punch”. One example of this belief is when my girlfriend would tell me a lot of stuff that made me feel I would rather have died then lived. Even now when I and my girlfriend get mad we say a lot of hurtful things. Another example is when my father is mad for some reason; he tells me a lot of stuff.

One example of words hurting is when my father is mad for some reason. This might be because his job made him angry. He comes home and wants to discuss it with us. One day, I stepped in front of him, and I told him that he needed to stop or we will leave him. He was angry and he was yelling at me and I didn’t pay attention, but in my mind I was almost crying. We stopped arguing and we started talking. He was telling me that he was sorry and to forget all that he said to me, but I really never forgot what he told me. I know that my father is not like that but that day I didn’t know was happening with him, but I knew that he was just not thinking. In any case, he always says that he loves us; me, my brothers, and my sisters and of course, my mother.

Another example is about 4 years ago, my girlfriend and I both split up and she called me that night. She said to me a lot of things that I personally didn’t think that she would say to me. I was sad and thought about all the things that she was saying to me. It was devastating and the only thing that I could do was think about what she was saying to me. Because of that, I could not sleep and I could not eat anything for about three months until I realized that it was the past and I had to move on and start a new life. But, even now, I still think about what she said to me and sometimes I cry, but later I realize that what I am doing is wrong. So I start to think about other things. I know if I want to forget this, I have to know how to forgive the other person. Forgiving can be a positive thing, for example, when I talked with her and we gave each other another chance and now we are both happy.

My girlfriend and I love each other, but when we get mad we both say things that hurt each other and we both know that it will be difficult to forget it. We both feel bad when we say things that are wrong. We both feel sorry towards each other, but I sometimes want to go running from wherever we are and not come back, But, I know that we are just playing with each other.

One of the things that hurts me is when she calls me and plays that she doesn’t love me. I don’t like that because she reminds me of when she told me all the bad things that she said to me in the past. These are some examples from my life of how “Words hurt more than a punch”. It can still hurt even when the person is playing with you. I know that if you want to forget all about this, you have to stop thinking about this first, and then think about something else in order to forget all what you are thinking.

This I Believe, by Josh

What’s good? I believe that bad stuff sometimes happens to good people. I believe this because bad stuff happens to good people all the time. But, because of this, I believe even more so that we must let people know how much they mean to us every single day.

When I was in the 3^rd grade I lost my grandfather. He died from an unexpected heart attack. I say unexpected because he was the one that always ate the healthy foods, and he always kept the healthy snacks and things. My grandfather and I were very close. We did everything together. He bought me everything that I wanted when he was living.

Another example of bad stuff happening to good people includes when my cousin was killed in a motorcycle accident. He was riding his brother’s motorcycle when he lost control of it and wrapped himself around a tree. This happens because of someone threw sand on the road. But I wonder why did he have to be the one to get killed when there were three other motorcycles riding with him? If he were here now I would ask him, “What were you thinking riding that motorcycle?” He and I were mad cool. I looked up to him because he was a respectable person like my grandfather.

Then, on Thanksgiving of 2005, my great aunt choked on a piece of turkey after chewing the meat up properly. She was the one who went to church everytime there was a church service. Why is she not here with us now? She died at her daughter’s house in her kitchen. Now she’s in heaven. Although I moved away from Chapel Hill, we also had been close like she was my best friend. She was always there for me when I needed somebody to talk to.

All I am saying is that everyday good people are not supposed to be the one’s who have to suffer through the bad things in this life. Only those that do the bad things should suppose to suffer through the bad things. That’s only a fair punishment for everybody. I have not learned anything yet because I still think it’s not fair for good people to die.

This I Believe, by Heather

This I Believe

Have you ever been in a situation where you did something that you didn’t mean to do? I have and it’s not a fun situation to be in. It can be heart breaking and cause a lot of pain. I feel like everyone should deserve a second chance depending on what they did.

My name is Heather Salmon. I am a junior at Orange High School and I am sixteen years old. I have had a lot of drama with boys and friends even family in my life this year at school and at home. I have done so many things that I didn’t mean to do. I have gotten second chances just because I told the truth, but that doesn’t mean everyone gets one.

I have many stories about given someone a second chance, one which wasn’t too long ago. It was actually just before my school got out for spring break! I had gotten mad at my best friend for doing something that I thought was wrong. I had heard that she was messing with the guy that I had been kind of talking to. I became very angry at her and I suddenly stop talking to her. This went on for about a week. Everyday after second period, she would come up to me at lunch and tell all the stuff that the boy was telling her. Her knowing that I liked him, I didn’t believe her. We didn’t talk at all. When lunch came, I sat there and ate my food and didn’t bother to look at her. We had never gotten into an argument of any kind or had been mad at each other. At that time I really didn’t care because I thought she had done something very wrong. Come to find out, it was the boy that I was talking to that was going behind my back and making me look stupid by telling her that he liked her and a whole bunch of other stuff. Over spring break we didn’t talk at all. Just a couple days before it was time to come back to school, she e-mailed me on myspace and asked me if we could just forget about everything that had happened because she hates not talking to me and hanging out with me. I wrote her back and told her that I would love to forget about everything that had happened because I miss being her friend also. We haven’t really spoken that much since this event occurred. I know from this experience, we will never be best friends again but we will definitely be friends and still hangout and do stuff we used to do. I had given her another chance because she deserved one.

Which comes to conclusion, I believe that everyone deserves a second chance. People make mistakes in life that aren’t meant to be made. I have made many of those mistakes just like everyone else. No body in this world is perfect. Like one of my friends said, “Things happen and we have to move on in our lives and forgive the person for whatever they have done.”