Previously unpublished. Approximately 516 words.

It is a useful exercise to try to complete the sentence, “I believe…,” by adding a few personal convictions born in solitude and a blank environment.

What do I think I have come to believe, I wonder?

I believe a person should avoid admitting that efforts have finally ended in failure. Keep right on trying. Nearly everybody can help a little in changing things for the better.

I believe that people who continue to struggle for what they believe to be right will have more satisfactory lives than those who just watch the world go by, criticizing, and bemoaning their fate.

I believe that Life confronts us with choices that need to be made; and that a big reason that children must have especially well rounded educations is to improve their ability to make wise choices, over and over, between right and wrong, especially, and between the meaningful and the irrelevant.

I believe that sometimes we have the chance to influence great events—even in a small way. We need to be prepared to seize all such opportunities. Reeducating ourselves repeatedly during our long lifetimes is bound to help us make the World a better place for ourselves and coming generations.

It is true that Evil can be endured for very long periods without countering action by the individual. But there is an effect on self that can be expected from long toleration of Evil. Therefore, fighting Evil has twin impacts, even though the fighter seldom looks inward for results.

Success, I think, is a reward which brings with it the possibility of diminished effort at once and down the line. Guarding against that outcome is vital and a key part of living an impactful life.

I believe that except for a few zealots, it is well that we make life’s passage a rewarding experience. Another way of putting it is that if we make our lives seem worth pursuing through the months and years, we will be more likely to “carry through” on the onerous burdens we confront.

That thought leads to the idea that recreation, that is, the pleasant use of leisure time, is not to be thought a detour from Life’s serious purposes. Rather, recreation contributes to mental stability and to the ability to carry through on unpleasant projects to the very end.

One always has the choice of pondering Great Matters or of concentrating on the totally Personal. I think that most who determine on an hour of thought do not knowingly select between the two, leaving it to chance. Since both are important to the individual and society alike, it is to be hoped that each Route will be chosen on occasion, to the end that one’s growth will be multifaceted.

Religious faith helps sustain many individuals, even though belief be atypical or odd. Inflicting a religious format on others seems to me to border on an invasion of individual freedom. Wholesome personal belief is surely elevating and likely to bring a good outcome, in time, to a great many.