What I Believe
Cassidy Lichtman,
June 2011
If you asked me before I came to
Stanford what I believed in, I probably would have hemmed and hawed a bit or
avoided the question. I finally would
have had to admit that I believed in something but I had no clear idea of what
that something was. Since being here I
am sure we have all been through moments in which we have had to struggle,
moments that tested who we are fundamentally as people. It is in those moments, I think, that you
learn what it is in which you truly believe.
As I get ready to leave this place, I am not entirely sure of the path
my life will take. I am sure, though,
that I know what matters to me. I know
now what I believe in.
I
believe in laughter. Laughter has the
power to spread happiness and patch up wounds.
In the most difficult moments, finding a way to laugh is the first sign
of healing. Instead of getting angry at
small misfortunes or petty annoyances, laugh them away. It is a skill that is far too underrated and
underutilized that can save you a great deal of stress.
I
believe in the importance of the process over that of the result. I was raised as an athlete which means that I
hate losing more than anything. Except
having regrets. We all want to win, to
be successful in our lives. But at the
end of the day, my greatest goal is not to be able to say that I succeeded but
to be able to look at myself in the mirror and say that I honestly did
everything in my power to succeed.
I
believe in attempting the unachievable. There
are too many times in our lives that we settle for doing what we are supposed
to do. We are too easily put off by the
can’ts and the won’ts and the nevers. Imagine
what you could do, if you pushed beyond the limits that society has set for
you, or that you have set for yourself. Maybe
you will fail, but if you never try have you not already decided to fail? If you do push the limits, even if you are
not entirely successful, it is likely that you will end up far beyond where you
ever thought you could be.
I
believe in tolerance. The problems of
our world will only be solved if we can hear multiple voices. You do not have to share my beliefs, nor I
yours. What matters is that we respect
each other’s right to hold those beliefs and listen to their expression if not
to better understand the other’s beliefs then to better understand our
own. The friends that I have made here
have different ideologies, religions, races and values. They also have different senses of humor, pet
peeves, quirks and life stories. There
is no one factor that determines who they are; rather, they are a wonderful mix
of all of these different aspects of their person. It is because they have brought such a varied
perspective to my life that I understand my own beliefs and my own perspective
so much better now.
Stanford
has given all of us so much. We leave
here with memories, experience, knowledge and hopefully degrees. All of those will enrich our lives and help
us through the coming years. It is the
increased understanding of ourselves, though, that will prove as our best guide
in the future. At least, that is what I
believe.
No comments:
Post a Comment