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"Empathy begins with understanding life from another person's perspective. Nobody has an objective experience of reality. It's all through our own individual prisms." -Sterling K. Brown

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How has my perspective on faith changed?

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How has my perspective on faith changed?

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At the beginning of the semester, I was somewhat confused about where I stood with religion. After spending a while on the internet I was starting to get really confused and was full of doubt. It wasn't until this class where I was introduced to a less strict and spiritual perspective. This was a perspective that was focused on understanding, compassion and, as Father Greg Boyle likes to say, kinship. This class focused on our own views and our own personal experiences, which allowed us to further understand ourselves. And, hearing everyone's perspective on the same topic reminded me that everyone has different experiences in their own life, which includes religious experiences. This is why I have come to a conclusion, at the end of the semester, that someone's faith and beliefs is and should be a personal experience that shouldn't be forced onto a person.

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How have I grown over the course of this semester? What have I learned?

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How have I grown over the course of this semester? What have I learned?

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At the very beginning of the semester, on my first few days of high school, I came in with a somewhat cynical and negative attitude. I was not looking forward to high school at all and decided that I would expect the worst from everything and everyone. But, as the days went by, I started to realize that my initial thoughts on how high school was going to be were completely wrong. Sure, I've had bad days here, and I still struggle with speaking up and reaching out to people, but for the most part my experience here has definitely not been as bad as I originally thought. This has helped me realize that not everything is how it seems in my mind. Not everything in life is unpleasant, and not everyone around me has malicious intent. I've also realized to look from another perspective instead of just my own. One thing I've learned about myself, as embarrassing as it is to admit, is that I tend to be somewhat self-centered and only think about what I'm going through. this attitude prevented me from realizing that everyone has something going on in their lives at one point or another. I'm not the only one who struggles or has insecurities. So, I've learned that I shouldn't just automatically assume things just by how they might seem at first. And, I should start looking at situations from other people's points of view.

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How can my faith or how I've grown impact others and the world?

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How can my faith or how I've grown impact others and the world?

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I've noticed that we often fail to see another person's perspective. We always think only of ourselves and our won needs and fail to empathize with those around us. So, it's important for more people to understand that everyone's life is different and everyone goes through different experiences. But, one thing that everyone has in common is that we all struggle at one point or another. I think understanding other people's points of view and not judging them immediately. I think the world could improve just a little if everyone starts having this level of understanding.

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“Close both eyes see with the other one. Then we are no longer saddled by the burden of our persistent judgments our ceaseless withholding our constant exclusion. Our sphere has widened and we find ourselves quite unexpectedly in a new expansive location in a place of endless acceptance and infinite love.”
― Gregory J. Boyle, Tattoos on the Heart: The Power of Boundless Compassion