This I Believe
Just because people are pocket-sized, lengthy, dense, or brilliant, who are we to judge anyone of the gifts they were born with? I believe no one should be underestimated, and always given a chance to prove that they can achieve greatness. Everyone is underestimated for something, whether it is in the classroom, on the field, or amongst family members. I’ve seen it before, I’ve heard it, I’ve experienced it. People don’t want to be looked down at, yet we all do the same to the ones around us. Superiority is everywhere. Everyone wants to be above all, and that means belittling the weaker persons to make us look better, but it shouldn’t be that way.
It’s also present in the media, us kids read, watch, and observe everyday. Movies showoff the big shot jock that rules the hallways, with all their hot girlfriends, and has the best reserved seats in the cafeteria, and also beating up the nerds who have to sit by the trashcan, like in the Disney movie “You Wish.” Why do we all look down upon those that are not like us, they could always come back and show us up. Like the movie “Never Been Kissed.” A dorky girl, who has never been kissed, meets a potential lover, everyone see’s her as a goofy artsy girl, and she doesn’t want him to think of her that way, but in the end they fall in love and she gets her first kiss from him. Even in the Bible there is a story of underestimating someone. Ever heard of David and Goliath? Goliath was the mightiest giant in the land, he was the true champion of the Philistines, little David shows up to the battle, and everyone smirks thinking this little boy will not defeat a nine in a half foot giant any day, yet David killed Goliath with his sling shot and seized his head off, making the underdog come out with the victory. Not only do people belittle there peers physically, but also mentally. Like in the ABC television show “Ugly Betty.” At the magazine company, everyone is high fashion, no one shops at Wal-Mart, in their minds stores like that don’t even exist. They live in the high end apartments, with butlers, and maids. While Betty lives in a little house with her father, sister, and nephew. Betty gets a job at “Mode” as an assistant for one of the most attractive editors, but everyone in the office thinks who is this little nerdy girl, with her bushy eye brows, and clashing clothes? Turns out she does a lot for the company, and goes to great lengths for her boss, she helps him with his personal life, and business life.
I myself have experienced being looked down at. It’s not the best feeling in the world, but when you prove everyone wrong that underestimated you, it feels like you deserved it. I loved basketball my whole life, but I didn’t start playing it till I was in third grade. All the boys thought of me as a little asian girl that played tag during recess. When I told everyone I couldn’t go to Andrea’s birthday party because I had a basketball game, no one believed me, everyone thought I was to short to play basketball, or I looked like I wouldn’t be good at it. The next school day, during recess, I was brave enough to go and play with the boys on the courts, I admit I was the smallest one, but I was the fastest one, I can honestly say those boys got schooled. For the first time I thought I could be good at something. Then when my mom called Andrea’s mom to tell her sorry I couldn’t be present at the party because I had a basketball game, Andrea being really close with the guys, told everyone I was telling the truth the whole time. I guess going through that made me realize that we shouldn’t criticize the people around us who aren’t as skilled at something.
Another experience in my life is when I underestimated myself, and my teammates. It was the first day of basketball tryouts. Looking at the girls trying out for JV, well it didn’t look so good. I underestimated the team. With the season we had my freshman year, I just wanted to win more than one game. Everyone thought our school wouldn’t even be recognized, everyone knew that we weren’t the best. This season the practices were more rigorous, and the girls this season were more determined. I started to think maybe we have a chance to prove everyone wrong. During preseason games, we won all our games. I was really impressed with our team this year, and the coaches kept telling us they believed in us and we could do it. Then when we entered regular season games, we kept winning all our games. One by one we took each team down. Then we had to play the hardest game probably all of us had to fight through. We played last year’s division champs, but without a doubt we beat them too. The season going by and our record was 9-0. Then we had to face them again, they were our first lost and only lost. We kept beating each team, and finally it was the semi-finals for the championship. As the number one team going into the playoffs we were determined were going all the way. We finally made it to the championship game, as a team we decided to prove everyone wrong. The crowd who thought just because last time we saw this team we lost to them, and too the players on that team, just because they dominated last time, we were going to get our revenge. We came out with a victory, and we showed everyone we had it in us. As soon as the buzzer rang, my heart stopped and the only beat was the cadence of the crowd’s clap. All the events in my life that I had to go through to realize that anyone can do anything, taught me not to underestimate anyone. For everyone can achieve greatness, no matter what form it should be in. Even though the movies, and the tv shows give the message that we look down at the weaker ones around us, we don’t all have to go with the status quo. No one should be looked down at or underestimated, and always given the chance to prove they can achieve greatness, this I believe.
Just because people are pocket-sized, lengthy, dense, or brilliant, who are we to judge anyone of the gifts they were born with? I believe no one should be underestimated, and always given a chance to prove that they can achieve greatness. Everyone is underestimated for something, whether it is in the classroom, on the field, or amongst family members. I’ve seen it before, I’ve heard it, I’ve experienced it. People don’t want to be looked down at, yet we all do the same to the ones around us. Superiority is everywhere. Everyone wants to be above all, and that means belittling the weaker persons to make us look better, but it shouldn’t be that way.
It’s also present in the media, us kids read, watch, and observe everyday. Movies showoff the big shot jock that rules the hallways, with all their hot girlfriends, and has the best reserved seats in the cafeteria, and also beating up the nerds who have to sit by the trashcan, like in the Disney movie “You Wish.” Why do we all look down upon those that are not like us, they could always come back and show us up. Like the movie “Never Been Kissed.” A dorky girl, who has never been kissed, meets a potential lover, everyone see’s her as a goofy artsy girl, and she doesn’t want him to think of her that way, but in the end they fall in love and she gets her first kiss from him. Even in the Bible there is a story of underestimating someone. Ever heard of David and Goliath? Goliath was the mightiest giant in the land, he was the true champion of the Philistines, little David shows up to the battle, and everyone smirks thinking this little boy will not defeat a nine in a half foot giant any day, yet David killed Goliath with his sling shot and seized his head off, making the underdog come out with the victory. Not only do people belittle there peers physically, but also mentally. Like in the ABC television show “Ugly Betty.” At the magazine company, everyone is high fashion, no one shops at Wal-Mart, in their minds stores like that don’t even exist. They live in the high end apartments, with butlers, and maids. While Betty lives in a little house with her father, sister, and nephew. Betty gets a job at “Mode” as an assistant for one of the most attractive editors, but everyone in the office thinks who is this little nerdy girl, with her bushy eye brows, and clashing clothes? Turns out she does a lot for the company, and goes to great lengths for her boss, she helps him with his personal life, and business life.
I myself have experienced being looked down at. It’s not the best feeling in the world, but when you prove everyone wrong that underestimated you, it feels like you deserved it. I loved basketball my whole life, but I didn’t start playing it till I was in third grade. All the boys thought of me as a little asian girl that played tag during recess. When I told everyone I couldn’t go to Andrea’s birthday party because I had a basketball game, no one believed me, everyone thought I was to short to play basketball, or I looked like I wouldn’t be good at it. The next school day, during recess, I was brave enough to go and play with the boys on the courts, I admit I was the smallest one, but I was the fastest one, I can honestly say those boys got schooled. For the first time I thought I could be good at something. Then when my mom called Andrea’s mom to tell her sorry I couldn’t be present at the party because I had a basketball game, Andrea being really close with the guys, told everyone I was telling the truth the whole time. I guess going through that made me realize that we shouldn’t criticize the people around us who aren’t as skilled at something.
Another experience in my life is when I underestimated myself, and my teammates. It was the first day of basketball tryouts. Looking at the girls trying out for JV, well it didn’t look so good. I underestimated the team. With the season we had my freshman year, I just wanted to win more than one game. Everyone thought our school wouldn’t even be recognized, everyone knew that we weren’t the best. This season the practices were more rigorous, and the girls this season were more determined. I started to think maybe we have a chance to prove everyone wrong. During preseason games, we won all our games. I was really impressed with our team this year, and the coaches kept telling us they believed in us and we could do it. Then when we entered regular season games, we kept winning all our games. One by one we took each team down. Then we had to play the hardest game probably all of us had to fight through. We played last year’s division champs, but without a doubt we beat them too. The season going by and our record was 9-0. Then we had to face them again, they were our first lost and only lost. We kept beating each team, and finally it was the semi-finals for the championship. As the number one team going into the playoffs we were determined were going all the way. We finally made it to the championship game, as a team we decided to prove everyone wrong. The crowd who thought just because last time we saw this team we lost to them, and too the players on that team, just because they dominated last time, we were going to get our revenge. We came out with a victory, and we showed everyone we had it in us. As soon as the buzzer rang, my heart stopped and the only beat was the cadence of the crowd’s clap. All the events in my life that I had to go through to realize that anyone can do anything, taught me not to underestimate anyone. For everyone can achieve greatness, no matter what form it should be in. Even though the movies, and the tv shows give the message that we look down at the weaker ones around us, we don’t all have to go with the status quo. No one should be looked down at or underestimated, and always given the chance to prove they can achieve greatness, this I believe.
