Believe in Your Convictions

Dana Weinstein, Prozdor Grade 11

Believe 100% in your convictions, even if you contradict yourself every day.

This motto has been an inspiration to me from the time I was little. It has taught me that being wrong is ok, that being adamant about being right when I’m actually wrong is ok, but most importantly, that I should believe wholeheartedly whatever it is that I actually think. For example, since I was ten I’ve always thought that I wanted to be a psychologist, more specifically, a neuro-psychologist. But last week, we started a women’s issues segment in my U.S. History class, and like Dory in Finding Nemo, I had a new mission in life – I am going to be a women’s rights advocate. My friends will eye me strangely, think it’s just a phase, and my parents will probably not be thrilled to hear that I want to major in women’s studies. And they’re likely all right. I’ll probably end up back as a pre-med major or studying psychology when I get to college. But right now, maybe just for this week, I want to be a women’s rights lawyer.

This motto also speaks to my belief that my generation cannot be nicknamed as “X,” “Y,” or “Z,” but as generation blasé. The use of the word “like” or “you know” modifies almost any statement made by a teenage girl or boy in today’s America. It is no longer “cool” to actually believe what you say – it’s no longer acceptable to be passionate about something, no matter how profound or insignificant. Instead, in our cynical and materialistic culture, we must be dispassionate about, disinterested in, everything. In our pursuit of acceptance, we no longer want to offend, and of course, the worst way to offend someone is to disagree with him or her. And of course, disagreeing with someone is the natural outcome of believing wholeheartedly in a conviction someone else opposes.

However, just because one believes something 100% does not mean that they should be locked into that belief for the rest of their life. As the 2004 Presidential campaigns have shown us, an inability to acknowledge and welcome change in other people “elected” an administration that 1) has currently engaged in a war (that costs the American public billions of dollars a day) and 2) refuses to admit any such mistakes about said war. John Kerry did not win the 2004 Presidential elections because he did not respond quickly enough the to “Swift-Boat” attacks on his character. But he also did not win because the Republicans portrayed him as effeminately wishy-washy, not stick-to-your-guns manly like Bush. However, as good as the Republican machine is, it could not have successfully played this tactic had the American public not agreed with it. Americans, at least in 2004, believed that changing your mind was a bad thing, a sign of weakness. Thus, a President who couldn’t even admit that there were no WMDs in Iraq despite the presence of such weapons being the basis for the invasion was championed over a decorated man who actually served in Vietnam and yet later decided that his involvement caused more harm than gain. The elections of 2004 are just one example of the dangers of refusing to accept change. Most senators in Iraq were with the president when he wanted to invade because of the WMDs. Many more might still be with him if he hadn’t refused to acknowledge his mistakes in reconnaissance.

Thus, believing in one’s convictions while also possessing the ability to change them is necessary to allow people grow and develop fully. If we teach our children that their thoughts and ideas are acceptable and laudable, then we will endow our children with the self-esteem to lead contented and successful lives.