I believe what everyone else believes. I believe that happiest girls are the prettiest girls and it’s always darkest before the dawn, just like everyone else. Our beliefs don’t make us unique, they’re threaded together by another person, another organization, and we simply accept them. To quote my mother, we as a society are not “one question deep”. No one takes the time to form their own opinions: form their own beliefs. We simply accept whatever information or opinion presented to us first as the truth and do little to see past it. We are given our convictions, there is nothing else to be done. Therefore: I believe what everyone else believes.

I hold the same beliefs as the bumper stickers that fly by me on the freeway bolstering candidates of whom I know nothing about. I believe the headline on the front page of the newspaper to be true because I can understand those words; I need not read the entire article. I believe everything my parents ever told me. I hold their same values and opinions about everything; they would never steer me wrong, so why should my unique experiences allow me to come up with my own?

Believing in something is such an abstract concept. We live in a society where we are taught what we believe. We are not forced to form our own opinion because whatever we read always seems to point to one specific conclusion. We are not forced to make our own assumptions, as everything is assumed for us. As long as our convictions match those of our friends, everything is ok: there is safety in numbers. But what good is a choir if not everyone’s heart is in the song?

Is it that we are too timid? Are we are afraid to be different?  Too afraid to stand up, look someone square in the face and say: “I disagree with you”.

I do not believe we are too lazy to form our own opinions.

I believe that bumper stickers are not the best basis to form an opinion on. I believe that the only way there can be strength in numbers is if everyone knows exactly what they stand for. I believe we have the potential to be complete individuals, but we lack the motivation to think differently from everyone else: to challenge others as well as ourselves by having unique thoughts derived from further analyzing information presented to us, and not just accepting it as truth.