4t and 4teen both need their siblings. 4teen needs them to give them the “how-to’s” of the high school, and 4t needs them for moral support and encouragement.
We all receive some inspirational emails every week. We read through them, they lift our souls and bring smiles to our faces. We nod our head in agreement with an occasional tear drop, as we relate that reading to our lives. The minute we close the email, out of sight, out of mind, the effect disappears. Poof!
Then, there comes a time in our lives that we experience struggles, which bring a distant memory of those quotes to our minds. It is then that we identify and sympathize with those sayings and pledge to take them to heart and learn, practice and even preach them if we can find an audience. The real empathy comes, sometimes with age, when something really clicks in the heart that sets our inner drive in motion. That inner drive, or call it whatever you want, makes us take those words as a way of life and that is when we start living by those rules. The empathy stage has to come to everyone on a personal realization and timetable; for some sooner than later. Preaching and lecturing does not affect anything, but believe me, it will come in time.
And that is how exactly having faith found its permanent space in my life. Not that I did not have faith before. I did, but the switch could be on and off depending on my mood. This time my faith came with conviction and out of my inner strength. Some argue that having faith is for the weak and lazy, and for those who do not want to do anything or want to shift the responsibility to a higher authority. The way I see it, this argument does not stick for me any more.
I believe that my faith comes from a stronger character trait. I see having faith in people, life and me, as a source of inner strength rather than weakness. There is only so much I can do about any situation and more than that is beyond me, it requires wisdom to draw that line. Having faith requires a big heart to forgive, not to forget, and to restore faith. Not many people have the courage to change themselves to get to that point. And ultimately having faith requires a ton of patience and kindness and the hectic lives of 21st century can be an obstacle. Balancing the two of them requires knowing one self and sacrifices, and not everyone, is able or willing to do that.
To close this serious subject, I have faith that everything will work itself out, I just try my very best and give it my best shot. Forgiveness and compassion are two best character traits, I try to have faith in people, if not for them then for my own sake. Ultimately, I firmly believe that there is retribution in life. Life is a funfair, we all stand in different positions in life at different times, and we all have ups and downs and demons to fight, the true test is how we come out of it, and how we use this experience afterwards.
4 comments:
"Faith isnt faith until its all you're holding on to." - Anonymous.
I liked reading you're beliefs and views of faith, and i enjoyed the topic as well as your writing because you left it very open ended. You conveyed your point but left room for other peoples defenitions of faith as well. I listed mine about, and as I was reading my emails I came across this email and I thought I'd post it.
FORWARDED MESSAGE:
One day, when I was a freshman in high school, I saw a kid from my class was walking home from school. His name was Kyle. It looked like he was carrying all of his books. I thought to myself, "Why would anyone bring home all his books on a Friday? He must really be a nerd.I had quite a weekend planned (parties and a football game with my friends tomorrow afternoon), so I shrugged my shoulders and went on. As I was walking, I saw a bunch of kids running toward him. They ran at him, knocking all his books out of his arms and tripping him so he landed in the dirt. His glasses went flying, and I saw them land in the grass about ten feet from him. He looked up and I saw this terrible sadness in his eyes. My heart went out to him. So, I jogged over to him and as he crawled around looking for his glasses, and I saw a tear in his eye. As I handed him his glasses, I said, "Those guys are jerks. They really should get lives." He looked at me and said, "Hey thanks!" There was a big smile on his face. It was one of those smiles that showed real gratitude. I helped him pick up his books, and asked him where he lived. As it turned out, he lived near me, so I asked him why I had never seen him before. He said he had gone to private school before now. I would have never hung out with a private school kid before. We talked all the way home, and I carried some of his books. He turned out to be a pretty cool kid. I asked him if he wanted to play a little football with my friends. He said yes. We hung out all weekend and the more I got to know Kyle, the more I liked him, and my friends thought the same of him. Monday morning came, and there was Kyle with the huge stack of books again. I stopped him and said, "Boy, you are gonna really build some serious muscles with this pile of books everyday!" He just laughed and handed me half the books. Over the next four years, Kyle and I became best friends. When we were seniors, we began to think about college. Kyle decided on Georgetown, and I was going to Duke. I knew that we would always be friends, that the miles would never be a problem. He was going to be a doctor, and I was going for business on a football scholarship. Kyle was valedictorian of our class.. I teased him all the time about being a nerd. He had to prepare a speech for graduation. I was so glad it wasn't me having to get up there and speak. Graduation day, I saw Kyle. He looked great. He was one of those guys that really found himself during high school. He filled out and actually looked good in glasses. He had more dates than I had and all the girls loved him. Boy, sometimes I was jealous. Today was one of those days. I could see that he was nervous about his speech. So, I smacked him on the back and said, "Hey, big guy, you'll be great!" He looked at me with one of those looks (the really grateful one) and smiled. "Thanks," he said. As he started his speech, he cleared his throat, and began. "Graduation is a time to thank those who helped you make it through those tough years. Your parents, your teachers, your siblings, maybe a coach...but mostly your friends. I am here to tell all of you that being a friend to someone is the best gift you can give them. I am going to tell you a story." I just looked at my friend with disbelief as he told the story of the first day we met. He had planned to kill himself over the weekend. He talked of how he had cleaned out his locker so his Mom wouldn't have to do it later and was carrying his stuff home. He looked hard at me and gave me a little smile. "Thankfully, I was saved. My friend saved me from doing the unspeakable." I heard the gasp go through the crowd as this handsome, popular boy told us all about his weakest moment. I saw his Mom and dad looking at me and smiling that same grateful smile. Not until that moment did I realize it's depth. Never underestimate the power of your actions. With one small gesture you can change a person's life. For better or for worse.
It takes a basically optimistic person to have faith in others, one who has more often not been disappointed in people. You are lucky because obviously people have generally not disappointed you for you to continue to have faith.
I'm glad you are not talking about faith in a higher being--that is another topic altogether.
to me, faith is believing when common sense tells you not too. Although this is not quite the path you took in your writing to portray your own view i think our two defenitions of faith could be intertwined. faith for you comes in other people, and its a personal choice...i agree. i just think we resort to faith when we have nothing left to hold on too.
"Faith, is a knowledge within the heart, beyond the reach of proof."
-- Kahlil Gibran
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