"This I believe" essays

I listened to the four essays: "Be Cool", "Just Like Pastrami", "The Tense Middle", and "A Duty to Family, Heritage, and Country". Although I could clearly see just what they believed, some of their points did not make sense. For example, in "The Tense Middle", the author believes that everything is good in moderation (much like the Buddhist belief of the middle path). But in his essay, he also believed that people are given choices, like in an anecdote he told about being sheltered by a Ukranian school teacher during the holocaust. He was given the choice A) to shelter them or B) to turn them in; but wait, that leaves no room for the middle! Unless he meant that we must make our own middle path, but that wasn't exactly the feeling I got from his essay. Overall, it was a slightly confusing essay, but maybe I just chose to listen to it because it kind of reaffirmed my own beliefs.

The first essay that I listened to, "Be Cool", had a very straight-forward and simple belief: that staying calm and collected, or otherwise "cool", is the key to living a happy and fulfilling life. It makes sense, but at the end, he said that being cool meant having a facade when talking to people, and not speaking what you think, rather being polite and respectful. I respect his opinion, but I believe being "cool" is being yourself. I believe being cool means being an unsupressed individual; you don't have to be "cool" with everyone you meet. I think his idea of staying relaxed at all times is being too "cool" (this reflects my belief in "the middle path"), but it is a respectable belief nonetheless.

The second essay, "Just Like Pastrami", was about a teacher's belief in marbling diffferent aspects of your life how you would pastrami meat. While at first I thought that his belief was similar to "The Tense Middle" essay, it did have its own unique points (besides relating life to pastrami). He said that life, like brisket is easy to layer, but it is through marbling we achieve the great flavor of life--just like pastrami. What this means to me is still unclear, but there is a certain aspect of his essay I do understand; you must always work harder to achieve your goals.

The final essay, "A Duty to Family, Heritage, and Country", was a very solemn one. The author was a 14 year old Chinese immigrant, who believed that the only reason she works hard at school is to pay back all the people who have helped her along the way. She believed that even though she wanted to do her own thing, she was being forced, not by her parents, heritage, or country, but by herself as a result of all of their beliefs. Yes, sometimes people, including myself do things out of obligation or duty. But the reason I find this essay solemn is because I almost pity this girl. Sure, she does sound more mature, and probably smarter than I am, but she seems to pity herself too. Self-pity is a very sad thing.