Change is when something makes or becomes different. Like when you used to believe in Santa; But you now realized that it’s impossible for a white-bearded man to travel the world in a sleigh with reindeer delivering presents. Change can be something as small as not eating pizza for the fifth night in a row or something as big as you becoming homeless. Change can also happen within our beliefs, not just the god you believe in or your religion but your simple basic beliefs as well; But what do you do when you haven’t experienced change? It’s difficult explaining to somebody that you are still where you were almost eight to nine years ago. 

 

       Beliefs divide us mentally; I never believed that until I was the one that was divided. I grew up very different from everyone; I didn’t have a physical disability or anything of that matter but mentally it was a different story. I never changed, that’s hard to believe I know, but keep in mind that it depends on what you believe change is; Change to me is when an event or someone/something impacts you & changes you and how you think as a person. So no, I haven’t changed. Since I was in grade school I have witnessed & been through a lot of traumatizing situations; When people go through these types of situations, you would think they would end up in the streets, selling drugs, not in school or worse, dead. You would think one would change in a way but I didn’t. I didn’t see the point of changing; When I tried changing or allowed to change, it only started wrecking my home. When I stayed the same, things flowed more easily, I was used to it; It was where I felt safe because nobody but myself can make me change.

 

         My first encounter with my beliefs being challenged is when my mother confronted me about my sexuality. When you’re young, you don’t really think like adults; You don’t get the gay jokes let alone understand that girls & boys are supposed to like certain things. I believed that everyone should like who they like, love who they love and it shouldn’t be nobody’s business. My mother tried changing me but didn’t realize minds are stronger than physical things, you can put me in a million dresses & sit me in front of the most beautiful man in the world but if im gay what good is that? Till this day I believe what I did six years ago, I couldn’t change. I couldn’t be or act like something I’m not, I couldn’t believe that love is limited to certain genders.

 

         Back in middle school I was bullied, embarrassed & constantly harassed. I went to school with people who couldn’t wait to laugh at you, to belittle you, to mock you, to make you feel less than yourself. I believed in being nice to everyone; I believed in sharing, in building other people up, in caring for one another. Although I wasn’t being treated correctly it didn’t make me be mean; It didn’t make me “toughen up” or bully others. It made me remind myself to not change, I couldn’t change my beliefs, I told myself to continue to be nice even if it means not receiving the same treatment back, I refused to give misery company. Till this day, I haven’t changed my mindset on it or let myself become a product of my environment. 

 

        I’ve never stopped believing in anything I used to believe in, but sometimes I wish I stopped believing. I would stop believing so I can see how those changes in my beliefs will change me as a person. Although beliefs previously can have a huge impact on a lot of things and can give someone a preview of your personality & how you think, beliefs don’t always make you who you are. It forces some people to believe & follow certain beliefs because of their lifestyle or family; Although there are people who live by their beliefs, there are people who have decided that they no longer want to believe in what we taught to them & this can happen because of many factors. Some factors that can lead to a change are your environment, your friends, research, and social media & sometimes even yourself. Most beliefs end because of research, many people only believe in things because they don’t know the facts so they believe in whatever “seems right” or they follow the crowd which is what we see a lot of today. 

 

         Although people are changing their beliefs, Can you believe that we don’t have the right to believe in whatever we want? Believe is taking something to be true, but if it’s raining and you believe it’s not raining, is it still raining? Exactly. Beliefs can be incorrect, unjustified by research or just basic reasoned consideration; Some beliefs can even be Morally obscene. When a belief is morally obscene, it usually means things like rape, being racists, murdering someone & the list goes on; We deem Things like this morally obscene & we as a society stop these beliefs from continuing by stopping any potential acts on it & by giving out punishments, thus derailing any future beliefs in that context & the believer.