Comparing Two "This I Believe" Essays

The guidelines for the "This I Believe" essays requires writers to write an essay about one of their beliefs. This essay should be positive and personal and should include a story about themselves that has shaped their belief.

The first essay I read was "The Kindness We Give Each Other", by Mary Popham. In it, she was able to name her core belief in her life which was Kindness. She included a story from her childhood in Kentucky about how she gave away one of her most precious belongings to someone going through a hard time- to make her feel better.

She said that although she felt regret giving it away back then, she looks back at that time now, and instead of seeing it as a time where she lost something precious to her, she now sees it as someone giving, and someone receiving a kindness. ​​

The second essay I read was "Good Can Be as Communicable as Evil", by Norman Corwin. His belief, which he also was able to state within a sentence, was "good can be as communicable as evil". He referred back to an event in his life where he saw a simple act of kindness take place and he felt a sudden sense of respect for the two people. This event caused him to see that kindness and goodness can be as publicized as evilness is nowadays. Although he talked briefly about the unfortunate state of the world, overall, he remained positive by saying there was a way out- and that was through small acts of kindness. ​

Overall, both pieces followed the guidelines of the prompt correctly. If anything, the first essay did a better job at staying clear to the readers, while the second essay could have done a better job at staying organized. However, both included personal stories or experiences in their lives which helped shape their beliefs. Both essays were written from a positive viewpoint.