Connor Booth
September 28, 2006
Writing Workshop – Mr. Brown
This I Believe Essay

I Believe in Being Yourself

One day I walk into school and start to talk with some of my classmates. Now keep in mind, in my class some people follow and try to model their life after the most "popular" person in my class. So I start to talk to four of my classmates about how we are going to go to my house after school and go to the park, something we planned more than a week ago. Two of them say, "No, we have decided to go with Bob to the movies with Sandy and Shelly."

I realize then that these two classmates of mine are growing more and more like one person in my class, the "popular" kid. They aren't the same people they were in the beginning of the year, and this makes me angry. Every person has a unique personality. That's what helps make the world so diverse and interesting. The people who try so hard to be exactly like another person and hide their true selves are losing out. I know a lot of people go through a "stage" of trying to model their life after someone else's, but people who do this at my age are pretty lame. Now, I'm not saying picking up certain aspects of people's personalities is wrong because getting other people's ideas and opinions mixed with how we feel about them is how a person would act.

I believe in being yourself.

If Martin Luther King, Christopher Columbus, Albert Einstein, Jackie Robinson, and Abraham Lincoln hadn't been themselves, the world wouldn't be the way it is right now. Being who you really are shapes our world and brings new ideas to the world. If everyone were the same, it would be horrible. The human race wouldn’t advance. We might not even survive. If most of the people in the world did not follow their own minds, the world would be a really dull place. Being yourself doesn't only benefit you—you help the whole world.

I would like to acknowledge James Salazar for correcting my paper, Mr. Brown for adding comments and such, and my mom for checking my grammar.