This I Believe
Submission Checklist:
1. Grading Template
2. Completed Peer Review
3. Essay: Five Hundred Word Personal Statement of Belief in Radio Style.
This I
Believe® is an exciting national project that invites you to write
about the core beliefs that guide your daily life. NPR will air these personal
statements from listeners at varying times. By inviting Americans from all
walks of life to participate, series producers Dan Gediman and Jay Allison
hope to create a picture of the American spirit in all its rich complexity.
This
I Believe is based on a 1950s radio
program of the same name, hosted by acclaimed journalist Edward R. Murrow. In
creating This I Believe, Murrow said the program sought "to point
to the common meeting grounds of beliefs, which is the essence of brotherhood
and the floor of our civilization."
In spite
of the fear of atomic warfare, increasing consumerism and loss of spiritual
values, the essayists on Murrow's series expressed tremendous hope. "We
hear a country moving toward more equality among the races and between
genders," says Gediman. "We hear parents writing essays that are
letters to their newborn children expressing the hopes and dreams they have for
them. And we hear the stories of faith that guide people in their daily
experiences."
Each day,
millions of Americans gathered by their radios to hear compelling essays from
the likes of Eleanor Roosevelt, Jackie Robinson, Helen Keller and Harry Truman
as well as corporate leaders, cab drivers, scientists and secretaries -- anyone
able to distill into a few minutes the guiding principles by which they lived.
Their words brought comfort and inspiration to a country worried about the Cold
War, McCarthyism and racial division.
"As
in the 1950s, this is a time when belief is dividing the nation and the
world," says Allison about life today. "We are not listening well,
not understanding each other -- we are simply disagreeing, or worse. Working in
broadcast communication, there's a responsibility to change that, to cross
borders, to encourage some empathy. That possibility is what inspires me about
this series."
In
reviving This I Believe, Allison and Gediman say their goal is not to
persuade Americans to agree on the same beliefs. Rather, they hope to encourage
people to begin the much more difficult task of developing respect for beliefs
different from their own.
'This I Believe' Essay-Writing Instructions
We invite you to contribute to this project by writing and submitting
your own statement of personal belief. We understand how challenging this
is -- it requires such intimacy that no one else can do it for you. To guide
you through this process, we offer these suggestions:
Tell a story: Be specific. Take your belief out of the ether and ground it in the
events of your life. Consider moments when belief was formed or tested or
changed. Think of your own experience, work and family, and tell of the things
you know that no one else does. Your story need not be heart-warming or
gut-wrenching -- it can even be funny -- but it should be real. Make
sure your story ties to the essence of your daily life philosophy and the
shaping of your beliefs.
Be brief:
Your statement should be 500 words. That's about three minutes when read aloud
at your natural pace.
Name your belief: If you can't name it in a sentence or two, your
essay might not be about belief. Also, rather than writing a list, consider
focusing on a core belief, because three minutes is a very short time.
Be positive: Please avoid preaching or editorializing. Tell us what you do
believe, not what you don't believe. Avoid speaking in the editorial
"we." Make your essay about you; speak in the first person.
Be personal: This is radio. Write in words and phrases that are comfortable for
you to speak. We recommend you read your essay aloud to yourself several times,
and each time edit it and simplify it until you find the words, tone and story
that truly echo your belief and the way you speak.
For this project, we are also guided by the original This
I Believe series and the producers'
invitation to those who wrote essays in the 1950s. Their
advice holds up well and we are abiding by it. Please consider it carefully in
writing your piece.
In introducing the original series, host Edward R. Murrow
said, "Never has the need for personal philosophies of this kind been
so urgent." We would argue that the need is as great now as it was 50
years ago. We are eager for your contribution.
This invites you to make a very great contribution: nothing less than a statement
of your personal beliefs, of the values which rule your thought and action.
Your essay should be about three minutes in length when read loud, written
in a style as you yourself speak, and total no more than 500 words.
We know this is a tough job. What we want is so intimate that no one can write it for you. You must write it yourself, in the language most natural to you. We ask you to write in your own words and then record in your own voice. You may even find that it takes a request like this for you to reveal some of your own beliefs to yourself. If you set them down they may become of untold meaning to others.
We would like you to tell not only what you believe, but how you reached your beliefs, and if they have grown, what made them grow. This necessarily must be highly personal. That is what we anticipate and want.
It may help you in formulating your credo if we tell you also what we do not want. We do not want a sermon, religious or lay; we do not want editorializing or sectarianism or 'finger-pointing.' We do not even want your views on the American way of life, or democracy or free enterprise. These are important but for another occasion. We want to know what you live by. And we want it terms of 'I,' not the editorial 'We.'
Although this program is designed to express beliefs, it is not a religious program and is not concerned with any religious form whatever. Most of our guests express belief in a Supreme Being, and set forth the importance to them of that belief. However, that is your decision, since it is your belief which we solicit.
But we do ask you to confine yourself to affirmatives: This means refraining from saying what you do not believe. Your beliefs may well have grown in clarity to you by a process of elimination and rejection, but for our part, we must avoid negative statements lest we become a medium for the criticism of beliefs, which is the very opposite of our purpose.
We are sure the statement we ask from you can have wide and lasting influence. Never has the need for personal philosophies of this kind been so urgent. Your belief, simply and sincerely spoken, is sure to stimulate and help those who hear it. We are confident it will enrich them. May we have your contribution?