I believe in dancing.
– Robert Fulghum, “Dancing all the dances”
I believe that what we receive we must share.
– Elie Wiesel, “God is God because He
remembers”
I believe in my duty to heal, […] that I must
try to care for everyone.
- Pius Kamau, “A Duty to Heal”
I believe that I have to do the right thing
even when I really, really don’t feel like it.
– Deidre Sullivan, “Always go to the funeral”
I believe in my mother.
– Benjamin Carson, “There is no job more
important than parenting”
I believe our capacity to tolerate both
religious and personal difference is what
will ultimately give us true liberty.
– Joel Engardio, “Learning True Tolerance”
I believe I must guard against my own
potential for brutality and the mutation of
my own humanity.
– Yinong Young-Xu, “A Potential for
Brutality”
I believe in telling children the truth.
– Martha Leathe, “Telling Kids the Whole
Truth”
I believe that to love, and to bare the
boundless depth of our love, we must
have the courage to reshape what we
inherit. –
Priya Chandrasekaran,
“Cutting Our
Grandmothers’ Saris”
I believe that those sound waves carry the
borning cry of the cosmos. That a whisper
from God’s lips created all that is and all that
was and all that will be, and that that whisper
set it into motion in a cataclysm so great that
14-billion years later those sound waves still
echoes through a world without end. Kimberly Woodbury ,
“We are All Stardust”
I believe that…
How has your belief been
created, shaped, or tested
by your experiences?
Creed
• A statement of belief
Creed
• What does “cred” mean before a word?
Creeds – Types and examples
• Apostle’s Creed (Christian tradition)
– I believe in God the Father Almighty,
Maker of heaven and earth...
Creeds – Types and examples
• Shema (Jewish tradition)
– Hear, O Israel: the LORD our God,
the LORD is one
Creeds – Types and examples
• Shahada (Muslim tradition)
– I bear witness that there is no god but God,
and that Muhammad is His messenger
Personal Essay
• Differs from memoir and narrative essay
• Narrative tells a story
• Memoir tells of a relationship
This I Believe
• http://thisibelieve.org/
Activities
• Belief statements
• Quotations
Listen
• http://thisibelieve.org/essay/11875/
Assignment:
• Go to this site: http://thisibelieve.org/
• Explore what “This I Believe” is all about
• Choose an essay to read
Assignment:
• Your essay choices :
• “Our Noble, Essential Decency”
• “We are all Stardust”
• “Be Cool to the Pizza Delivery Dude”
• “Seeing with the Heart”
• “Accomplishing Big Things in Small Pieces”
Assignment:
• Then find another essay somewhere in the
site and read that one.
• Print it out and annotate for:
– Structure (organization and focus)
– Diction and syntax
– Message
– Audience
– purpose