Becca+D.



**"Sincerity and truth are the basis of every virtue.”** -Confucius


 * ~ [[image:Image8.jpg]] ||~ The virtue that i have chosen is sincerity. To be sincere, according to Benjamin Frankin, you must //use no hurtful deceit; think innocently and justly, and, if you speak, speak accordingly.// This basically means that you shouldn't gossip, lie, or be sarcastic. In the long run, this helps you, and everyone around you. I chose to do this virtue because when i'm around friends, i'm constantly hearing things about themselves or other people. Sometimes i get the urge to go and tell someone else, especially if what they told me was had made me angy or upset.

By following the virtue sincerity, i'm going to try and keep everything to myself. Also, i will stop being sarcastic and i won't lie. It will help keep me out of drama, which is an everyday part of highschool thats hard to avoid. Not only will i keep out of drama, but i would become more trustworthy to my friends and family, which is important to me. ||  Becca, Your page looks great; I love the graphics! Good luck with practicing sincerity. Mrs. V

-Albert Einstein// Over the past few days, i have been trying to practice sincerity. I must admit, it has been hard. When it comes to my friends and family, i tend to tell little white lies. A lot of the time, its just saying that i'll do something that i don't end up doing. I have been trying to stop myself from doing this. I haven't been able to follow through every time, but its improving. I think my biggest flaw thats keeping me from this is laziness. I will try to work on getting more sleep and doing all my work right after school to help me get myself on a better schedule. By doing this, i will be more likely to follow through with my promises. Before this assignment, i had gotten into a big altercation with someone who was talking behind my back. After the issue was resolved, i promised myself that i wouldn't talk about other people, and i am doing very well with it. The person that i had been in a fight with had gotten other people involved, and they started calling me names and yelling threats in the hallways even after everything was resolved. It was very frusterating, but i just walked away and didn't say anything back. Now, I'm not bothered as much. By not spreading gossip, lying, or being sarcastic, i find myself much more out of drama.
 * UPDATE #1 4/22/09 **  //“If A equals success, then the formula is A equals X plus Y and Z, with X being work, Y play, and Z keeping your mouth shut.”

**UPDATE #2 4/26/09** //"Honesty is a good thing, but it is not profitable to its possessor unless it is kept under control." -Don Marquis //

There is a fine line between being sincerely honest and being brutally honest. It is always best to tell the truth, but its not what you say, its how you say it. That is something that my parents have told me my whole life. It's something i've struggled with ever since i can remember. Part of being sincere is to "use no hurtful deceit" I need not only to be honest, but I need to say how i feel in a nice and respectful manner. I've gotten in a few situations that have made me think about how i can change this more. Lately, i have gotten along with my family much better than i have been for a while. I'm more respectful to my mom, and i use more reasonable tones. When it comes to my boyfriend, we have gotten in many fights due to honesty, but in the end, we are able to resolve everything that was going wrong. It's a difficult process to be sincere but i feel it will be well worth it in the end.  **UPDATE #3 4/28/09** //“What is uttered from the heart alone, will win the hearts of others to your own.” -Johann Wolfgang von Goethe //  Yesterday my boyfriend broke up with me. It wasn't so much the fact i was being sincere to him, but the problem was that my sincerity wasn't enough for him. So even though that is kind of a bummer, i think it was for the best. if i were not sincere with him, we might have lasted longer but not have really been happy, nor even really known eachother. Things with my friends and family are still going well. I screw up sometimes, say the wrong things, or get frusterated, but overall the process is good.

//Becca - I have been looking at the student pages... I really think you have one of the strongest pages! Well Done! - Mr. Sherman //

//Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. -Ephesians 4:29//
 * UPDATE #4 4/30/09**

Today I went to Sarah Hurley's funeral. It was one of the most inspiring and life impacting experiences of my life. It bothers me so much that during this tragic time, so many people are disrespectful. Many say that no one should have went to the funeral, if they weren't close friends or family. I never met Sarah, but i knew what kind of a person she was. and i only wish i could be blessed enough to know more people like her. I believe that if not everyone who cared about Sarah went to her funeral, her family would have a much harder time dealing with her death because they wouldn't know how much of an impact she has made on the lives of our community. And that was Sarah's goal in life, to make an impact when she's gone. Sarah has inspired not only me, but many others to become better people. To live life with no regrets. To always smile and live life to the fullest. If the people who are being rude about the situation would have actually went to the funeral, i believe that it would have changed them. I am connecting Sarah Hurley to my update because if it weren't for this tragic accident, i wouldn't have realized how much one person can change so many lives. All of this is making me grow stronger with God and i know that this was His plan for her. Because of Sarah, i will strive to be a sincere, and overall better person. media type="custom" key="3708499"