At the thought of writing a statement about one of my beliefs, I drew a blank. It's not that I have no beliefs; I have too many. To pick one to write about would be difficult. But as I thought about it, I realized that recently one of my beliefs was more firmly established. It was so recent that it almost seemed to be a bigger part of me, especially considering how it was affirmed inside of me.
This I believe: serving others makes you taller. Humbling yourself in actuality lifts you up. Take Hurricane Katrina, for instance. In response to that disaster, hundreds of people volunteered to help out. But they weren't doing the glamorous jobs. They would clean up debris, build houses, and even muck out houses, but we respect them. By their actions, they are made greater in the eyes of others.
Recently this belief was reinforced in my mind at my great-grandfather's funeral. My mom, his granddaughter, stepped up to the podium. She explained how her grandfather was the tallest man she knew. now he was tall, but he wasn't literally the tallest. For her, he was tall because he was constantly leaning down to help and support others.
He loved my great-grandmother, his wife of 69 years, and went out of his way to show that. When his grandchildren would visit, he got down and played with them. No activity was too embarrassing or humbling for him to do. As he brought himself lower, he became taller.
This I believe: height is figurative. You must lower yourself first in order to grow taller.
Hidden fees :(
15 years ago
3 comments:
That's an awesome comparison Becca. I never really thought about "height" that way but that's definitely a good comparison between being tall and being a big person.
excellent post!
Really neat post!
I thought it was very creative to think of "height" in a much more abstract kind of sense. I especially loved the contrast of the ending with having to "lower yourself first in order to grow taller."
It was also really nice to read about the kindness of your great-grandfather because it gave the post a pleasant-to-read feel, while also displaying a good example of your belief in action.
I really like your idea of "height is figurative" I especially liked how you mentioned that people humbled themselves by doing the dirty jobs to help out. Writing out a check to a cause is easy. No matter how much money you donate, I personally believe that the greatest thing that you can donate is time. Your Hurricane Katrina example was really good, because it shows that it's the jobs that no one wants to do are the ones that really need to be done and are appreciated the most.
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