Personal Experiences And Beliefs

Alejandro Barrera
English 4 DC – 4th
Mrs. Morrow
September 18, 2014
Essay A:
Describe a setting in which you have collaborated or interacted with people whose experiences and/or beliefs differ from yours. Address your initial feelings, and how those feelings were or were not changed by this experience.
In modern society, every one has their own experience and personal qualities. Along with this everyone has their own beliefs and interest, and many times these beliefs or interest may not coincide with what your beliefs or experiences are. This can lead to conflicts when you are then forced to work along side these people. For instance if somebody at your workplace holds different ethical beliefs than you do, serious problems can arise. However,
we must learn to work along side and collaborate with these people despite our differences in beliefs. I learned this lesson from having to work often with people that share different religious believes than I do. My entire life I have went to catholic school.
From Montessori school all the way up to my senior year, I was educated in a school where the catholic faith was heavily emphasized and taught. This was mainly due to the fact that both my parents were raised catholic and still considers themselves very active in the Christian community. Therefore, I considered myself to be catholic for the majority of my life because of the fact that most children tend to follow whatever religion their parents raise them to be a part of. Eventually, as most people do at a certain time in their life, I began to develop my own beliefs and view points on issues such as theology and politics that didn’t completely coincide with what my parents had told me they believed. This then made certain situations uncomfortable for me because I was forced to go along with ideas that I didn’t entirely agree with. I had to go to life teen retreats and pray along with everyone else, or I had to write papers in theology class, not truly being able to write down what my actual views were. This is where I learned how to work with groups of people despite them having different beliefs then I
do. While I was in life teen, which is a group one has to be a part of before they receive the sacrament of confirmation, I was required to go on a three-day retreat. While I was there, a lot of typical church retreat activities were done such as prayer, adoration, and Stations of the Cross. During the beginning of the retreat I did what I had always done around catholic people, which was to simply go along with what everyone else was doing. However, during the second day of the retreat I just felt that I couldn’t continue to simply walk through the routine anymore. I felt as if I was disrespecting those around me that truly believed by not taking what we were doing seriously. The circumstance that really pushed me over the edge was my life teen instructor asking me to give a speech to the rest of the people there expressing everything I've taken away from the retreat. That was when I finally decided to tell someone that I didn’t believe in the catholic religion. The first person I told was my life teen sponsor, as they were called, and he was very surprised.
He mentioned how I always seemed so interested and went along perfectly with what I was expected to do. I then proceeded to have a very long conversation with him. We discussed my background, why I didn’t believe in Catholicism, and the problems I was facing because of my different beliefs. He then asked me why I had waited until that moment to make my beliefs known to those around me. My response was that I was scared or nervous of how people around me, who were catholic, would react to the fact that I was not. He then told me something that has influence the way in which I have handled this situation ever since. He told that if my family is truly catholic, then they should believe and encourage religious toleration. As I evaluated this statement I realized that this, in a simple way, actually resolved most of the issues I was having. The way I now handle differences in beliefs, whether it is religious or political, is by practicing toleration. I don’t have to make my beliefs one hundred percent know, or force my belief on to others, because everyone has the right to their own beliefs. Everyone has the ability to think for him or herself, and they should be encouraged to do so. This practice enables me to successfully work with those around me despite contradictions in our
beliefs. Even today this is still an issue that I am faced with constantly, and it is an issue that will probably be present throughout the rest of my life, because there will always be people with different beliefs than me. However, because of the lessons I've learned, I understand that just because someone’s beliefs are different than mine doesn’t make theirs wrong. This understanding allows me to work with these people, without conflict, despite our differences in belief.