Communication Essay: Exploring Beliefs and Cultural Identity

This essay analyzes three essays from the "This I Believe" website to understand how personal beliefs guide and shape the lives of the authors, focusing on communication, self-expression, and cultural identity. The first essay by Bela Fleck discusses his belief in finding his own methods, drawing inspiration from his grandfather. The second essay explores self-identity through the author's use of eyeliner, reflecting on her experiences as an adopted Asian individual in a Caucasian family. The third essay emphasizes the importance of communication, highlighting how it can improve or worsen situations, and how it is essential for human beings. The essay concludes that communication and self-expression are vital, with cultural identity playing a significant role, and that people employ diverse methods to communicate their beliefs and experiences, with references to Adler et al. (1986) to support the concepts discussed.

Running head: COMMUNICATION
Communication
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author Note:

1COMMUNICATION
This I Believe Inc. was founded in the year 2004. It is a non-profit organization ad an
independent body. The mission of the website is to engage people in sharing their core values
that have guided them through the walks of their lives, the values that they belief have made
them successful. The idea was founded on a radio program that was popular during the
1950s. That program was hosted by a famous journalist Edward R. Murrow. The idea was to
inspire people during the unstable time of cold war while the website aimed to guide people
to develop a respect for people with different beliefs. This essay analyses three essays from
the website to understand how the beliefs have guided and shaped the lives of the authors.
The first essay is an account by Bela Fleck, a well-known Banjo player. The author
expresses his belief of finding out ways to do things in his own method. This he believes has
both positive and negative consequences. His inspiration and motivations comes from his
grandfather who albeit uneducated successfully managed two businesses in New York. When
he started learning Banjo, he has great teachers. Despite that, he could not go beyond the
prescribed standards. He figured a way to surpass the teachings he has received and figured
out the technicalities in his own way. Though he worries sometimes in situation where he
feels he is not ready enough, he keeps on his belief the same. He is generally anxious
whenever he has an ongoing project. He knows these about himself but refuses to worry as
this method has worked for his grandfather and it works for him. His belief has led to the
present success of him.
For the author playing banjo became the way to communicate his self and thoughts
(Adler et al. 1986, chap 3). The author establishes their unique voice by providing an
emotional personal account. He uses his inspiration to inspire others. He is a skill
communicator who succinctly describes his account interestingly. This essay resonates with
me in many ways. Many times in my life, there has been situations, when I had to figure
things out on my own. My inspiration has been my mother. I have seen her finding innovative

2COMMUNICATION
ways of doing things at home. She would never accept defeat when resources are limited. She
believed that if we are willing enough, we will find a way to do it. Thus, this story has an
emotional value to me. The experiences that they have had great impact on the author. His
core beliefs are the reason for which he has become successful in his pursuit of passion.
Link to essay: https://thisibelieve.org/essay/23041/
The second essay is about self-identity. The author believes that the eyeliner that she
wears on her bottom lashes. Since childhood she has struggled with her identity. She was
adopted and felt that knowing her heritage was a part of finding her place in the world. She is
of Asian descent living in a Caucasian family. Her parents did not encourage any talk about
her birth identity. She has felt ashamed and confused about the stereotypes she has been
assigned with. She was brought up in an all-white environment, had only white people as
friends and spoke only English. This created a void in her self-identity that she carried for
long. She could not identify herself with any of the identities. She observed other Asian girls
and soon found that it was only the eyeliner where she could find any similarity between her
and them.
Finding the expression of self is a necessary part for everybody. People growing up in
an environment that they find foreign and full of racial prejudices is a struggle on its own
(Adler et al. 1986, chap 2). The author here, uses eyeliner as a way to express herself. In this
case, the voice of the author has been finding her social identity. She felt lost until she found
an element that connects her with her roots. Through the essay I realized that cultural identity
shapes the confidence of people. This essay helps me respond intellectually as this helps me
to reflect on the ways I have seen people struggle to find their identity. One of my neighbors
had adopted a colored child and while growing up, he would consciously take up bad habits

3COMMUNICATION
that he would see within other colored children. It took him quite some time to realize that
those actions does not define his cultural and social identity.
Link to essay: https://thisibelieve.org/essay/34037/
The last essay is about communication and its importance. The author advocates the
necessity of communication as communication can both improve any situation and make it
worse. The author describes two situations. In one situation, the communication was a failure
and in the other the communication was successful. In the first instance, the author lost one of
his best friend while in the second she received a good friend and possible partner.
Communication, as the author says, cannot fix every problem but it has the ability make
situations better. Communication is also great skill that remains with individuals forever. The
belief that guides the author is that communication could be the key to every problem.
The author establishes his voice by communicating through his own experience.
Communication is essential for human beings (Adler et al. 1986, chap 1). This story provides
me with an insight about how things, however different may be solved by discussion and
deliberation. This story responds to me emotionally as I have also faced similar situation. One
of my childhood friends who lived in the neighborhood went away to another town. Our
communication stopped slowly and eventually I lost that friend.
Link to post: https://thisibelieve.org/essay/80352/
From the above discussion it can be concluded that communication and expressing
self is extremely necessary. Human beings are social beings who communicate to determine
their image of self and their position in the society. Cultural identity plays a vital role in how
people communicate. There is no single way for communication and people choose different
method. While someone chose banjo as their medium, another chose her eyeliner.

4COMMUNICATION
References
Adler, R.B., Rosenfeld, L.B., Towne, N. and Scott, M., 1986. Interplay: The process of
interpersonal communication. Holt, Rinehart, and Winston.