"This I Believe" Writing Meetup Group

Welcome to our This I Believe Writing Meetup Group! This group is designed to help people identify, clarify, and express core values and beliefs derived from their direct, lived experience. Members will respond to writing prompts chosen to stimulate reflection on people, situations, challenges, etc. that had a powerful influence in shaping who they are, what they believe, and why. Writers and non-writers alike, anyone with an interest in using writing to learn about themselves is welcome. Join us for discussions, writing prompts, and group activities that will inspire you to share your unique perspective and make a difference through the written word. Let your voice be heard and your beliefs be shared!

Education and Experience

I spent most of my career as a freelance journalist, writing about a wide variety of human interest subjects.  In addition to articles, I have published a number of books.  The inspiration for organizing this group came from my experience teaching freshman composition while I was a graduate student in American studies at the University of Minnesota.  Of all the assignments I gave my students, writing the “This I Believe” essay was unique in eliciting their best writing. 
“This I Believe” was originally a CBS radio series hosted by Edward R. Murrow in the late 1950s.  The series was subsequently revived in the 2000s by National Public Radio.  On discovering the revival, I wrote to the show’s producers and explained my intention to use it in my composition class.  Not only were they enthusiastic about the idea, but they sent me a copy of the entire 1950s series on compact discs!

I will be posting the instructions for writing this essay used by both the original and more recent series producers.

The Original Invitation from “This I Believe”

This invites you to make a very great contribution: nothing less than a statement of your personal beliefs, of the values which rule your thought and action. Your essay should be about three minutes in length when read loud, written in a style as you yourself speak, and total no more than 500 words.

We know this is a tough job. What we want is so intimate that no one can write it for you. You must write it yourself, in the language most natural to you. We ask you to write in your own words and then record in your own voice. You may even find that it takes a request like this for you to reveal some of your own beliefs to yourself. If you set them down they may become of untold meaning to others.

We would like you to tell not only what you believe, but how you reached your beliefs, and if they have grown, what made them grow. This necessarily must be highly personal. That is what we anticipate and want.

It may help you in formulating your credo if we tell you also what we do not want. We do not want a sermon, religious or lay; we do not want editorializing or sectarianism or ‘finger-pointing.’ We do not even want your views on the American way of life, or democracy or free enterprise. These are important but for another occasion. We want to know what you live by. And we want it in terms of ‘I,’ not the editorial ‘We.’

Although this program is designed to express beliefs, it is not a religious program and is not concerned with any religious form whatever. Most of our guests express belief in a Supreme Being, and set forth the importance to them of that belief. However, that is your decision, since it is your belief which we solicit.

But we do ask you to confine yourself to affirmatives: This means refraining from saying what you do not believe. Your beliefs may well have grown in clarity to you by a process of elimination and rejection, but for our part, we must avoid negative statements lest we become a medium for the criticism of beliefs, which is the very opposite of our purpose.

We are sure the statement we ask from you can have wide and lasting influence. Never has the need for personal
philosophies of this kind been so urgent. Your belief, simply and sincerely spoken, is sure to stimulate and help those who hear it. We are confident it will enrich them. May we have your contribution?

Adapted from the invitation sent to essayists featured in the original ‘This I Believe’ series. Excerpted from ‘This I Believe 2,’ copyright © 1954 by Help, Inc.