Inspiring essays on love shared by men, women, and young people from all walks of life In the 1950's, Edward R. Murrow's radio program, This I Believe, gave voice to the feelings and treasured beliefs of Americans around the country. Fifty years later, the popular update of the series, which now continues on Bob Edwards Weekend on public radio, explores the beliefs that people hold dear today. This book brings together essays on love from ordinary people far and wide whose sentiments and stories will surprise, inspire, and move you. By turns funny and profound, yet always engaging, This I Believe: On Love is a perfect gift to give or to keep.
I've loved This I Believe since I first heard it when the series ran on our local NPR station around 2005. I heard my favorite essay there , and it's helped me form my own beliefs on how to live my life. I was excited to run into a collection of essays from the series completely by accident at my library, and the book has come at a good time for me. We've had some heartache lately, and to read the stories of people who believe in the real power of love to heal has been needed and appreciated.
The stories come from a variety of sources, about many different kinds of love, but they all resonate with the idea that the real purpose of life is to love others and that real love is more than a feeling, but an action.
overall i feel like This i believe on love was a really inspiring book and was a book recommended to me by my older sister whom had read it in the past and loved it. The book was over all about different stories of peoples definitions of love. Since i cant really write a response on the whole book im going to pick the most inspiring story i read in the book.
They built a family: This chapter was about a elder man and woman named Bill, and Agnes. They were married for sixty five years and are 87 and 85 years young. They went for a walk on the same road every day and this is how their daughter Laura j.k Chamberlain described them. She described how there walk looked and sounded of green grass butterflies, the sound of birds chirping, squirrels hoping from tree to tree playing with on another. Sitting at the top of a low hill was her parents smiling and talking and some how looking as if they are on their first date. Looking as if only they are new lovers. The story of their lives are like no other simple but not. They first met at 12 and 10, she was the new girl on the block but he knew one day she would be his bride. They became lovers and then he was shipped off to war, a rocky few months on the pearl harbor. no word no way of knowing if he was in fact okay. Finally the war was over and they started there life together. They had 4 children, 11 grandchildren, and 13 great grandchildren. they lived 51 years in there family house. They will stay forever sitting by the fire watching there happy family on birthdays, holidays, or just gatherings. A look that they still look at each other with everyday as if they are still those young 12 and 10 year old. She lastly explains that her definition of love was "Love can know. I believe tender love has a power that cannot die and will somehow continue into eternity." And to me is a great way to describe live. A never ending feeling for one living the memories over and over again forever and alwys. This definition reminds me of my parents loving of each other and memorizes they share with us that feel like they will last forever. I would very much recommend this book to all who are searching for that one thing in life, that one thing they are looking for when it comes to love. The real meaning of love. I would lastly like to say thank you to Laura Chamberlain for allowing me to find my true meaning of love.
A friend emailed me after she finished this book. Something about it made her think of me--an incredible compliment, even before I read the book. Weeks later, a copy showed up at my doorstep. These thoughtful expressions of love (of all kinds) are the perfect antidote to a tumultuous mind, and I'm certain I'll return to these essays again and again.
Some of the essays were very well-written and quite touching; I was moved to tears more than once. Others were harder for me to relate to, and I skipped at least two essays. I think I prefer reading This I Believe essays one at a time rather than as a collection.
Every once in a while I'll catch a "This I believe" essay on NPR but never one on the subject of love. Some essays in this collection are well-written, some are not, but I find it admirable that the editors include a variety of viewpoints and a variety of writing styles. From a sociological standpoint it's fascinating to read how Americans of different age groups and backgrounds choose to share their feelings and which excerpt of their life they choose to highlight in such a short essay.
From "The Gift of Being" by Lorraine Kelly: "...the finest things in this world are fleeting, ephemeral. Mourning their absence only means that I'll miss their appearance the next time they come around. I believe that if I covet the past, either because of opportunities missed or grudges unrelinquished, I'll miss the good things of now."
From "Love Is Stronger Than Death" by Opal Ruth Prater: "I believe that as long as I am alive, Dusty's memory will live in me. I see his eyes peeking out at me from my grandson's face. I find something of his spirit in each of our children. My husband's death affected our family greatly, but his life impacted it more. He will live as long as one of us is alive to remember and to love him. And sometimes on a warm fall day, I catch that outdoorsy scent of fresh air and sunshine, and my face is buried in Dusty's shirt once more. Although I know he sleeps, I hear his shout of laughter somewhere just ahead, and I think he waits for me. I believe that love is stronger than death."
From "To Dwell in Possibility" by Patricia W. Bennett: "In houses like 22, there is a palpable sense of home: of welcome; of acceptance; of where, if you could go anywhere, you'd want to be. We trust such dwellings, if we are fortunate enough to possess them, to nurture and shelter the dearest components of ourselves. our children are introduced to the world by the sights from their windows, the aromas from their kitchens, the visitors to their porches...We mistake, today, thinking that the essence of a house is buyable, buildable, displayable. No, the soul of a house emanates from abiding, of daring to dwell in a place, and in it, being ourselves, warts and all."
From "Amazing Grace" by Korinthia Klein: "I remember how we ate in the dining room and laughed and talked while Grandpa rested in his hospital bed set up in the den. I wonder if it was sad for him to be alone with our voices and laughter. Knowing Grandpa, he was probably content." "The cancer had stolen his smile, but I saw joy in his eyes and he held my hand afterward, and I knew I had done something important."
From "Old Love" by Jane R. Martin: "Old love has all of the same ups and downs, including possible family interference, but with a greater risk of loss. Old love is fragile, and time is merciless." Time is merciless.
From "Love Like A Child" by Mary Lineberger: "When my children were babies and cried for hours over my shoulder and no amount of rocking would soothe them, they loved me anyway. When my frustration overwhelmed me by their constant dependency and I had to put my children down and walk away, they loved me anyway." Holly, my sweet Holly, is so forgiving. It's so difficult to make her comfortable sometimes and we make mistakes and sometimes aren't as gentle with her as we need to be, and she forgives us and loves us anyway.
From "God Is in Her Hand" by John Samuel Tieman: "...I believe that love is not found in the mind or the heart. Love is found in the hands. Love is in the nightly back scratch I give my wife. My wife kneading the dough, that's love. Love is in the hand that crafts, sculpts, sews, caresses, soothes."
From "Four Sisters in Life and Death" by Elynne Chaplik-Aleskow: "Ivy was quiet and gentle. Often she would observe others, not missing a thing. She was thoughtful, endearing and loyal...Unknowingly she had no time to waste. She had only sixteen years to do what she was going to do." Or, in Holly's case only two or three years. So little time, and she's already touched so many lives.
From "Staying Close" by Ginny Taylor: "At one point when I had mentally and physically hit bottom, I remember thinking that Scott must somehow love me more than I could ever love him. With my illness he had become the stronger one, and I the weaker one. And this disturbed me. I recovered from my illness, but I couldn't seem to recover from the thought that I loved my husband less than he loved me. What kind of wife was I to even think this? Had I always assumed I would be the stronger, healthier one? Or did I just not know how to be a good patient? this seeming disparity in our love continued to irritate me for the year following my illness." "As I fell into the draft of his six-foot-three-inch frame, I discovered that my leg quit burning as my pedaling became easier, and I was able to catch my breath. My husband was pulling me along--again. This is what I now believe: that love between two people is powerful, infinite, and so big that it can never be quantified into more or less. True love--not the sensationalized, watered-down media version--is forged by the fire of countless job changes, late nights with sick kids...during these and other tough times, love as the opportunity to become stronger when one partner learns to lean on the other. I pray my husband will always be strong and healthy. but if he should ever become the struggling one, whether on a bike ride or with an illness, I trust I'll be ready to call out to him, "Stay close behind me--my turn to pull you along.""
From "A Tender Lullaby" by Lee Reeves: "Now she's gone, and I spend much of my time writing the story o her brief time on earth. I remind myself that my voice and writing--just as in singing--need not be perfect. As I pour it onto the page I must accept its limitations and flaws. Far more important is the love and intention I bring to the process. Sometimes, I imagine that Leta can still hear me, that my voice wafts across the veili and touches her like a tender lullaby."
From "The Yellow House" by Julie M. Sellers: "...the spring didn't come, at least for the two of us. We parted ways just as the buds were forming on the trees."
From "A powerful Act of Love" by Susan Hall: (from the lyrics to Red River Valley) "Come and sit by my side if you love me, Do not hasten to bid me adieu." "And so I have come to believe in sitting and listening with someone as a powerful act, a loving action full with possibility. This I have learned from my son and his special music, a belief forged only after I was able to take a moment and listen."
From "Pennies from Heaven" by Reg Stark: "We all watched as she deteriorated over a long, agonizing six months in and out of surgery and chemotherapy--without a complaint or a hint of self-pity. She finally succumbed one evening just before midnight in a home she loved--surrounded by her friends and family." In our case our hope is that avoiding medical interventions will serve Holly better in the long run and that she will not have an agonizing decline. It's impossible to have any control in this kind of situation; just plan for the best case scenario and roll with whatever happens...
From "Made by Hand" by Mary Mrugalski: "One day when I panicked about trying to get everything done in a weekend, the bread of my past returned...Time began to expand, and the day felt luxuriously long. No more panicking. The baking bread smelled like comfort and safety."
2.5 stars. Really enjoyed the original This I Believe collection when I read it (almost 10 years ago!), but this one didn’t have as many heavy-hitters. A few really good essays but a lot of fluff, too.
Enjoyed… —unique life philosophies, such as Made by Hand by Mary Mrugalski, about her life and her way of expressing love as whole wheat bread; —moving moments where I felt recognition in very specific expressions of love, like Jenna Greer’s story in which her dad supported her mom through chemo, moving his little twin mattress around to join his wife in any place that was comfortable for her to sleep; —some really truth-filled lines, like: “I believe that there are lessons to learn that are just not available within the fullness of youth and all its glory.” -Debi Knight Kennedy, The Beauty of Aging
I prefer the 1st book but I thought this book was sweet. It is an easy/fast read that I would recommend to read around February. I liked this book but I thought that there was only one or two of the essays that were impact-full and provided me with a new perspective. The rest of the essays were just simple and I didn't really ponder. I liked that I got to read essays from everyday men and women about love but I will not re-read this book again.
This book is made up of several short essays on love. It was a good one to have in the car when I was waiting to pick up kids from basketball practices, etc... I liked seeing different perspectives on the same topic. It's a sweet little book.
This book was collected essays from a series on NPR in 2005 that 'explores the beliefs and guiding principles by which Americans live.' As expected, some essays are trite, some slightly heretical, but most were thoughtful.
James Johnson (about his father): I believe that I am the man I am today because of that relationship. I learned to do things simply, to stay with the things that work, to be patient, to appreciate silence. I learned that discomfort is transient. I learned that I was a welcome burden to my dad, that life without burden is life without insight, a shallow life. I believe we need the encumbrance of challenge.
Penny Hagin (about son): I want him to have friends that push him toward excellence and that hold the ladder of his success.
Gale A. Workman: Caretaking is the hardest job, yet Daddy did it with a strength and grace that allowed Mom to live and die with dignity.
Jeremy Gison hold a PhD in counseling from Indiana State U. He is a single dad with 12 and 17-year-old daughters and finds that the skills learned in his doctoral program frequently don't work as well as advertised. He is thinking about pursuing another degree, in women's studies.
If I cry while reading a book, it's an automatic 5 stars. Just sayin'.
I don't know if it was the cold (or the cold medication) but this book had me crying. I'm not going to say it was profound; it simply touched me profoundly because it focuses on the little things about love rather than the big, fireworks, media-driven, Hollywood-centric love I'm used to seeing. These are simple stories which are extremely personal.
I think I'm also touched that so many people were willing to openly share their experiences with love. I'm not talking just about romantic love (although that is talked about--my favorite was the one about being married to a Chinese man) but also the love between parent-child, long-term spouses, pets, and places which affect us (the yellow house set off quite a Puffs spree).
I borrowed this copy from the library because I was disappointed in This I Believe 2. I'm going to buy this book for when I need my spirits lifted. I think I'll buy a couple of extra copies for friends when they need their spirits lifted, too.
Back in the 1950s, broadcast legend Edward R. Murrow invited Americans to share what they really believed in short essays for radio – and many did. Listeners heard “This I Believe” from Jackie Robinson, Helen Keller, Harry Truman and many ordinary Americans.
In the last decade, “This I Believe” came back to the airwaves. And many Americans wanted to share what they believed about love. Their collection of essays on love cuts through the commercialism and takes a candid look at what love really is. What it means. What it teaches us. How it inspires. Romantic love and more.
Listen to the executive producer of "This I Believe" and co-editor of "This I Believe: On Love" here: http://bit.ly/fsMXet
I really loved this book! It is full of so many sweet and inspiring stories of where people find love and what love means to them. There are so many neat examples and stories of family, friends, pets, places, marriages, challenges, choices, children, selflessness, hope, perspective and peace. It's really all about love! :) Some of my favorite stories were those of family sacrifices and enduring love. I'm grateful for family. I'm grateful for love. :)
I really like the This I Believe books. There are so many great examples of love in this particular book, from the really basic to those that are extremely deep. That is why I love the concept - because it's so interesting to see how many different interpretations there are. It made me stop and really think about the word "love" and what it really means.
A Dog's Life: "All I ever really wanted out of life was to have my back scratched while sitting in front of the TV, to run free in the woods on a sunny summer day, and to curl up in front of a fire on a cold winter's evening, listening to classical music that someone else would put on the stereo."
I think these were all recorded by the essay writers to be aired on NPR, so hearing them would have made this a whole lot better. Certainly my style of book with short stories.