Be your own sunshine. Radiate positivity. Wake up every day and make the choice to be happy. Some people are naturally overtly joyous and infect those around them with happiness, others have to work at it for one reason or another.

You cannot rely on others to brighten your day because more often than not they have to worry about being their own sun, not your light. Not because they mean to do you harm, but because they have their own things to worry about other than your happiness. We have to be our own champions; no one is going to do it for us.

As we grow we must find the things, no matter how small, that make us joyful, that bring light to our day; we cannot, we must not, live under a cloud of darkness.

I enjoy making other people feel good, it genuinely makes me content, but we shouldn’t seek recognition or acknowledgement for things we should always be doing. Small acts of kindness not only improve our day, but the days of those around us.

I can recall seeing one of my classmates in middle school commit one of these small, unnoticed acts. She saw that one of our friends seemed to have lost his book and proceeded to get into trouble for it, but upon further investigation she discovered that another one of our friends had taken it in order to avoid getting in trouble herself. So, after class she took the book from our one friend who carelessly tossed it aside and returned it to the locker of our friend, who jubilantly exclaimed to our teacher he had found his book. Having watched all of this from the sidelines, I asked my friend why she bothered to do that, she said because it made him happy and because our other friend will never notice and didn’t think of how her actions affected those around her. The happiness on my friends face for silently saving the day was something I wanted to feel and have everyday sought out to achieve.

It is our job not only to ourselves but to others to put the best version of ourselves out there. If we all decided to put forth a bit more effort to understand and seek to make those around us see the grace in life and engage in the small, unnoticed acts of kindness, would not the world run a bit more smoothly? We all have a choice. I find it easier to be happy than to be sad and to spread that joy to those around me, however possible. This I believe.

For my “This I believe” podcast I may center my discussion around the broad ideas of either “happiness” or “understanding.” To go into further detail, for “happiness” I would discuss how my family has instilled in me how to live each day as a choice: to wake up excited and with a smile, or let the events of the previous day weigh on you. Happiness is a state of mind, a choice you make, even in the darkest of circumstances. My mother also makes it a point that happiness is infectious, so not only does your choice to be positive improve your day, but the day of those around you because you never know when the smallest act of kindness will make a world of a difference. If I were to discuss in further detail about the importance of “understanding,” I would focus on how people are too quick to attach their emotions to situations and thus forget to step back and analyze the situation from an outside viewpoint and clearly understand why people do the things they do, say what they say, act how they act. It is much easier to go into a conversation with a level head and leave judgement at the door. I would also discuss how all opinions are valid and there is no such thing as a “wrong” opinion, just ones that are misinformed or improperly communicated within a certain setting. When people say to me another person is “wrong” or their opinion is false, I say to them “that’s not fair.” If you invalidate or deny someone’s opinion you are violating the core belief of having an opinion, and whether you accept it or not, you just have to understand.

For my Passion Blog I will maintain the same topic of discussing the law and certain court cases. Last semester since we had to post 10 blogs I focused each post on one of the first Ten Amendments to the Constitution. With the hope of not becoming to repetitive, this semester I will branch out from the Bill of Rights and either discuss current course cases or will select high profile cases and discuss their importance/effect in relation to the law. One way I can improve my blog is to make it more relatable and fun to read so that readers can apply some of the information to their own lives.

For my Civic Issues blog, I plan to focus on the larger topic of Identities and Rights. I hope to relate this blog to my Passion Blog as that relates to the law. Since my Civics Blog will connect to my Passion Blog I will expand what I am talking about every week in my Passion Blog and discuss the “theme” of the week on the international stage. I will do this by analyzing a case both at home and abroad that centers around the same issue and discuss how they are similar and different. Another idea I have for my Civics Blog will be to discuss international law and pick a country each week and research and discuss their judicial system; my blog will then be a summary of law around the world.