This I Believe

There was a series for a while on NPR that always caught my attention called “This I Believe.” People of all circumstances and backgrounds would write in essays about what their core beliefs were, whether religious or secular, realistic or idealistic.  It’s an essay I always wanted to write, but somehow couldn’t.  I couldn’t boil everything I believe down to one all-encompassing statement, and so much of what I believed was so contradictory that, to me, it didn’t make sense that I could believe both things at once.

But finally, now, I think I’m at a point where I can write that essay. . .  so here goes:

I believe that a single individual’s beliefs can contradict without invalidating each other.  Like Samantha Black Crow in Neil Gaiman’s American Gods, “I can believe that things are true and I can believe things that aren’t true and I can believe things where nobody knows if they’re true or not.”

I have a deep, spiritual respect and belief in the Earth and Nature. I believe that She suffers because of our actions and I believe that by changing those actions we can end that suffering. I believe in all that She can give us and all that we are obligated to give Her so that we all can survive.

I believe in magic and miracles, and I believe in dreams.  I believe that there are faeries dancing in the shadows and ghosts in the attic and that I believe that I can believe these things while maintaining a deep respect and belief in the fundamentals of science and hard fact.

I believe that fiction is truth and that the worlds contained within books are as real and as tangible and as alive as this world that is built of atoms and molecules.  I  believe that dwarves were carved from stone, that white mice are superintelligent interdimensional beings,  and I  believe in natural selection and evolution and that humans and chimpanzees share a common ancestor.

I believe that women are in every way equal to men, and that a man should hold open doors for his lady.  I believe that I live in one of the most narrow-minded, bigoted areas of the nation, which I don’t like,  but I also believe that it is also one of the few places where formal courtesy and manners are still expected and where people still go out of their way to help their neighbor,  no matter who they are, and I like that.

I believe firmly in the fundamental values of my country, and I believe that dissenting against politics contrary to those values is one of the most patriotic things a citizen can do.  I believe in supporting our soldiers when they put their lives on the line and I believe that the wars they are fighting in are unnecessary and over-costly.

Finally, I  believe that believing all of this is not a contradiction at all.

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