What do you believe?

Fifty years ago, thousands of everyday citizens, along with people like Helen Keller, Jackie Robinson, and Harry Truman answered a call to distill into a few minutes the guiding principles by which they lived. Now it's your turn ...

NPR announced this week that it is reviving This I Believe, a national media project based on a groundbreaking 1950s radio program hosted by Edward R. Murrow. Every day, some 39-million Americans worried about the Cold War, McCarthyism and racial division took comfort in the words of public figures, corporate leaders, cabdrivers, secretaries, and teachers, among others. Eighty-five leading newspapers printed a weekly column based on This I Believe, and a collection of essays published in 1952 sold 300,000 copies, second only to the Bible that year.

Now, Americans from all walks of life (yes, you) are invited to write about and discuss the core beliefs that guide their daily lives. NPR will share these 500-word essays in weekly broadcasts on Morning Edition and All Things Considered.

"In reviving and reinvigorating This I Believe, our goal is not to persuade Americans to agree on the same beliefs," says the NPR site. "Rather, we hope to encourage people to begin the much more difficult task of developing respect for beliefs different from their own."

So, are you game? It's a tough challenge ... create a statement of your personal beliefs, the values that rule your thought and action ... in 500 words or less ... written in a style that, when read aloud, sounds as you yourself would speak. No small task, I'd say.

Irresistible, though, don't you think? Kinda scary and exciting at the same time. Hmmm ... what do I believe? and why? Ooooooh.

Here's a bit from the essay-writing tips, which spell out what they want and don't want (e.g., a sermon): "What we want is so intimate that no one can write it for you. You must write it yourself, in the language most natural to you. We ask you to write in your own words ... you may even find that it takes a request like this for you to reveal some of your own beliefs to yourself. If you set them down they may become of untold meaning to others."

Imagine if your essay is chosen for broadcast and you get to record it in your own voice. How cool would that be? Imagine how many people it could touch at a time when there is so much conflict and confusion.

The first essay in the current series, In Giving I Connect to Others, by the magnificent Isabel Allende (photo by Lori Barra), is already posted on the site. You can read it or hear it in Isabel's own voice, with a brief introduction to the series beforehand. Also on the site are several essays from the original series, including those of Helen Hayes, Norman Cousins, Harry Truman, and Hollywood Director John Cromwell writing to his young son about his fervent hopes for him.

I believe this is one cool project, and I hope you'll spread the word and join in. Let me know if you do. I plan to ... it will be fun just to take up the challenge. I'll share the results here on Believe Street.

Comments

[Marilyn]

What a fabulous project! And how cool of you to pass the word. Will look forward to reading your eassy (if you decide to post it).

[teresa fazzolari]

Does anyone out there notice that because of there Ren nature they don't really have time for a love life. I mean seriously. I have just discovered that the reason I'm not married yet is not only hasn't cupid done his thing but who can stay married to the same person for 45 years? Now I know why I'm single. I suppose I will be spinning clothe for quite some time!