The Compass is Pointed Due North

Throughout the week each student in my class has worked on creating a personal compass. The four points of the compass, traditionally North, South, East and West, have been replaced with four elements in our lives that are of the utmost importance to us. My compass points are Passion, Love, Faith, and Family.

             Passion is the North of my compass; it guides me every day. The passion that guides me is my passion for my future. After high school I plan on attending a culinary college with the hopes of opening my own bakery that specializes in wedding cakes. I have the ambition, the signs of true talent and above all, I have the passion to want to bake every day for as long as I’m able. For some people baking, or even food on a broader scale, is just something to do, something to eat. For me it’s completely different; Baking and food are my life, there’s no simpler way to put it.

             As for Love, well, that’s my West. Love is something I can absolutely not live without and there are so many different types of love present in my daily life. There’s love from my family, love from my friends, and love from my boyfriend. Also, like I mentioned already, there’s my love for food. Without which, I just wouldn’t be me. But with all this love it’s hard to effectively manage my time so that I may love every one as much as they love me; now, I’m not saying I don’t have time for every one, I just mean I don’t always see the people I love, but I love them anyways.

             The South point is Family. My family has gone through so much in the past four years, good and bad, but we haven’t fallen apart, not yet. Luckily I come from a strong and determined line of people and most of them have the desire and drive to overcome any obstacle that might lie ahead of them. There have been times when I’ve been overwhelmed and ready to just give up everything, but thanks to the help and support of my family I was able to overcome the problems I was having.

             Lastly is my East, my Faith. My faith has become one of the most important things in my life within the past two and a half years. During my sophomore year of high school from October to June, my family lost 5 members within those nine months. Words honestly can’t express how devastating of a time that was. Prior to that I almost loathed religion because I was being forced to believe, I didn’t have a choice. However once I was confirmed Catholic, I stopped attending Catholic services and for the first time in my life I was able to choose what I wanted to believe. I chose to become a self-proclaimed Christian and I haven’t looked back. And I can say, in all honesty, that I have never been happier. So, for the past two years, I’ve been going to my dad’s congregational church and joined the youth group there. Religion is now something I run to instead of something I run from

What is a belief system and how is it shaped

Imagine yourself as a working class person, living each day with the same routine; you eat, you work, you pray, then you sleep and the next morning you repeat the process. Now imagine that one day during peace times and the rebuilding of a nation a person comes along, a strong, opinionated person. This person tells you and the other members of your nation that they can make life better for you, easier, more prosperous, and give you the same rights and benefits as the person next to you. This person, you think, sounds great and you look forward to their leadership in the future.

Now here’s the catch, in order to do this for you, this person, my murder millions of people who they think is inferior to you and them self. The people being killed could be your neighbors or complete strangers, are you able to handle that? are you willing to let that happen? is your life more precious than another?

You believe that what this person says they can do is in your best interest even though the effects on others are catastrophic, your belief and the way you think begins to form and mold into how they think. Your belief is now that you are superior, the way you think has changed.

This is how belief systems are shaped. They, beliefs, are formed and molded by your surroundings. And a belief system is what you think and feel which controls your daily activities. A Huge problem with beliefs is that rarely do people agree on them; although you might have similar thoughts, your belief will never be exactly the same because everyone is different.

The things you believe in make sense to you, not always to someone else. Because of this, there are things called moral dilemma’s; one of the largest being: can killing be justified? Even if it’s for something you believe is the right thing to do? Another dilemma, littering, you believe it’s wrong because that’s what you have been told it’s wrong and that it’s your responsibility to not litter. That belief was shaped for you by society.  Also, bottled water, most people don’t have a problem with it because it’s just water, other people do. Those other people believe that bottling the most abundant resource on our planet is wrong, most likely because the idea (personal belief) was put into their head by someone else.

All in all beliefs are shaped by society. If one person believes on thing and you believe another that’s ok, but eventually one of you will bend slightly, but just enough to consider the belief of the other person, that’s just how society works.