This I Believe

Rummaging through my favorite book store in DC called Capitol Hill Books this weekend I came upon a compilation book called This I Believe. Its a collections belief statements from dozens and dozens of people across the country. Each essay includes the writer thoughts on something that she or she firmly believes.

These standpoints ranged from belief in a higher power to belief in the power of barbecue food. Yes, a heartfelt belief in barbecue food, and it was a well written piece at that!

What I loved about reading through this anthology was seeing life through the eyes of all of these people from across our country. It reminds us that everything is relative and everyone has their own truth. Life is beautiful in that way.

I decided to take some time to write my own essay on something I believe in: Summer Camp. Take a peek:

I believe in summer camp. I believe in the intrinsic and profound effect that these long summer days away from home have on a person. Its in those long days in the sun and the long nights around the campfire that settle into your soul with such a potency of happiness and belonging that it just can't be easily let go.
There are the friendships. Something about knowing that you're only with a group of people for a short period of time makes you cling to them. You dont hesitate to bond in a way that might take longer otherwise. The friendships made at summer camp are what all friendships in life should be like. Non-judgemental as we’re all sleeping in a cabin, the size of your closet back home doesn't matter.
There is the nature. The pure and sound nature that you get to run around and play in for days on end. In such a fast paced and polluted era of time, even a breath of fresh air can make you feel new but weeks and weeks of that blissful clarity can transform you.
The nature that surrounds you seems to inspire a whole new depth of creativity. Bead necklaces, dream catchers, lanyards and chalk paintings take on a whole new dynamic when at camp. Your creative juices start flowing from a place you never knew existed. Trying new things at summer camp is part of that profoundness previously mentioned. Being able to say “I've gone kayaking” or “I rode a horse once” or “There was this fish I caught way back when I was at in summer camp” becomes a special part of your childhood, your story.
Being away from home lets you be version of yourself that you can't always reveal around mom and dad, brother and sister. A free-er uninhibited side of you comes out when there are no preconceived expectations of the person you've always been. You can be a little sillier, a little more expressive. You make s’mores with people you may have never sat with at the lunch table at school. You create a hilarious skit with someone you otherwise would have assumed was no fun at all.
Summer camp changes you. It opens your eyes to the beauty of nature, sameness of people, the possibilities of you. This I believe.

I loved writing this! It was fun diving into something that really was and still is a part of me. That's where what we believe come from right? Our make-up. Our experiences.

Its somewhat terrifying to think that if we lived at a different time, in a different place, would we be a completely different person? Probably. What about us are we just born with and what about us is just from how we were raised? Nature vs. Nurture. Such an interesting thing to consider.

Take some time to check out some of the essays from This I Believe at www.thisIbelieve.org