Jacob Jurilla

Honors English-101
09/10/14

Ideals in todays society can be swayed so effortlessly. With the right attitude and
collaboration with others, our closely regarded principles are tested. One evening you may
believe in one thing but the next day, you may challenge the foundation of that ideal. Media,
peer pressure and consciousness are responsible for our attitudes; as a result, we need to be
mindful of such pressure and evaluate our own values.
Media today permits information, regardless of its authenticity, to be read and absorbed
without mercy. Social networks such as Facebook and Twitter, often provide the user a glimpse
into the thought process of those that they look up to. The people they regularly look up to
spontaneously explain their discords or beliefs for the internet to see. More often than not, we
end up believing what theyve written because we believe in someone elses work or idea is
better than not having the idea in the first place. This is a major consequence today, the
corruption of individual beliefs. Early forms of media, newspapers and radio, misrepresented a
belief in early 1940s America. United States airwaves frequently broadcasted the crimes and
actions the Japanese committed in the pacific. While these communication services added fuel to
a growing fire, it was not till the bombing of Pearl Harbor, did the Americans detested the
Japanese. With the strong belief that all Japanese natives, regardless if born within the states or
new immigrants, they all sought destruction. This was a negative consequence in allowing
media to shape our core ideals. Beliefs are dynamically created to fit the needs of the current
generation and their access to media.
Peer pressure has a major role in how a person will shape their beliefs. In the short
memoir, Salvation, Langston Hughes found himself deceptively conforming to the requests of
the church and his aunt. Langston collectively created a notion at a young age that Jesus himself
would accept him physically. Langston Hughes aunt explained to him that, when you were
saved, you saw a light, and something happened to you inside! And Jesus came into your life!
(Page 158, Paragraph 1) Langstons aunt failed to explain that Jesus did not actively take a
physical form. During the large revival, Langston Hughes innocence was challenged when
Westley, a rounders boy, professed how agitated he had become because he couldnt feel the
presence of the Lord within him. After a long period, Westley got up and proceeded to the other
side of the church, where the other saved children waited. Langston lost his innocence and
faith by getting up and accepting the fact that God had not been there for him. While many other
pressures influenced his decision, it was himself that realized how uncanny a belief can be.
Individualism, or the current state a person handles themselves, consequently impacts
their human nature. It is a consequence both positive and negative because we gather ideas from
how we interact from the world. We build thoughts and remember things that no other animal in
the world possesses. That is how we are able to change our ideals regardless of a previous
notion. Our own thoughts, beliefs and morals makes us the individual we are today. Grasping a
belief solely relies on the cooperation of the individual. The only way to truly believe in faith is
to have common ground or positive communication to the thought. The single greatest cause of
a person changing beliefs is within themselves and their quest for a relationship to a common
aspect or ideal.
Everything in life has its consequences for better or for worse. Changing our beliefs or
morals are difficult at times because they sometimes seem to be encoded into our own unique
DNA. Media, peer pressure and ones self are the direct causes to rethinking a previous belief.
As we live our lives, we almost often are left with choices to make that alter our ideals.
Although faith does not derive from an act of God, our willingness to communicate and express
our faults, allows us to craft our permanent and temporary standards.