TIB Topic, Civic Issues, Passion Blog, oh my!

For my This I Believe podcast, I think I’m going to talk about the importance of listening. Everyone wants to be listened to but its hard to listen when everyone wants to talk about themselves. When I went on a community service trip to West Virginia during my senior year Spring Break, I helped an old couple tear apart rotting parts of their house caused by a terrible flood. Initially, we were supposed to help a new family each day we were in West Virginia. However, we found ourselves at this old couple’s home every day because there was always more work to do and they were so hospitable. We all found ourselves having discussions with the older gentleman of the house, as if he was like a grandfather to us. While we were with the family, the work we did wasn’t anywhere near as important as we thought it was. Instead, caring enough to listen to their story made them happier than any amount of manual labor ever could.

The topic of energy as a subset of the environment captures my interest the most for my civic issues blog. For years now, developing new forms of energy has been a huge focus for many companies. While progress has been made, it seems that the desire to find new forms of energy has been concealed by other current issues. However, the need for new forms of energy is just as important as ever. Spending the semester researching what companies are developing and how the public is reacting sounds like an interesting investment.

For my passion blog, I think I’m going to stick to my previous topic of music. I enjoy sharing music and its story with others. By dissecting lyrics, I not only allow others to understand songs but I enhance my own understanding of them. Although I’ve already done this for a semester, I feel like it will still be enjoyable.