‘This I Believe’
For the past several years, Stockbridge High School and the Stockbridge Friends of the Library have collaborated to offer an essay-writing contest in order to engage Stockbridge High School students in an exploration of the core beliefs that guide their daily lives. Held twice a year, the contest is based on NPR’s four-year-running and now defunct “This I Believe” program.
Winners of the semiannual “This I Believe” contest are in, and there is a third place tie between Xavier Curtis and Isabella Eccleton. The second-place winner is Clare Beutler. The first-place winner would like to remain anonymous, but we are happy to still be able to publish their essay.
SCN is pleased to publish both third-place winners Curtis and Eccleton’s essays below as SCN’s monthly student-written column. The second- and first-place winning essays will be published in our May and June editions respectively.
Third-place winning essay, ‘Conversations: A needed part of life’
by Xavier Curtis
Conversations, a simple but needed part of life as a human being, and this I truly believe. Before when I was younger I thought I could go through life without talking at all and honestly, I lived up to that ideology for a while. But when I had finally found a group of friends who I could actually be around and have a trustful and good relationship where I didn’t have to be quiet anymore. To tell this memory in true detail I need to explain the circumstances and how I lived at the time. Back then, I woke up at either my mom’s or dad’s and got myself ready to go to school in which I was very quiet. Usually, I didn’t talk and focused on my work and only really talked to my friends if they were next to me or we were at recess or lunch in which I was always happy for since I was bored out of my mind during class which most likely led to me being as quiet as a mouse.
Anyways getting back to the point, I was always quiet and only spoke when needed. This didn’t do my social life any good and left me alone until I had found a group of kids running around the school then I began following them like a baby duck. I realized I had a very bad speaking voice and could barely muster a conversation and didn’t even know what these kids I was following around were like. But thankfully with the help of bribes(brownies), I was accepted into the group and realized that the people I’ve surrounded myself with are amazing people and I found myself opening up more. Slowly but surely I started conversations with other people, I made more friends, and as of today I’m going out with friends almost every other week and I realized that talking is a big part of human life, and the better you are at it the more enjoyable your life will be, so go out and start a conversation with someone and practice.
Now as I said before, talking is the main part of human life and is needed if you want to be happy as a person and live your life with fewer worries. Now, of course, there will be anxiety or self-doubt but you have to realize that if someone doesn’t want you around they wouldn’t even talk to you in the first place or would try to get you to leave. I hope you also realize that if you do something embarrassing or dumb you can make it a conversation topic or rather make it so you are laughing with your friends, in other words, laugh it off. Now your wondering, hey why is this such a heavy tone? I say that a heavy tone is needed when conveying a message that can change a life or two. For example, without knowing basic communication skills it can be hard to even order a pizza, let alone hold a conversation. I say all this because making friends and talking is hard, but life is even harder for those without those kinds of connections.
With communication skills, a person wouldn’t need to worry about what to say or how to go about their social life and instead just answer truthfully, and although there will be awkward moments that just means that you have a lot more to talk about. But without those skills, a person can be cut off, anxiety-ridden, or not know how to make friends, and although that is worrisome, it can get better, for social skills are made while talking to a person, and the more you talk with another the better you get at. But with social skills taught from childhood, kids would be more honest, talk about how their life is, and altogether bring the people closer, now while people will still argue on what to do with their lives and their countries they can at least be more civil and understanding of each other. This can also give us warnings about abusive parents, past traumas, and bad friends, this can help us sort through who would be a good match for you and your friend group. In conclusion, teaching social skills to people would help the people’s empathy, socialization, and general positivity, while it would also get rid of bad environments and hopefully help people’s lives and help them build their road of decisions that we call life.
