I thoroughly enjoyed Natalie M’s, “My Belief System”. In her article she talks about her firm views on religion and marriage. She cannot "fathom" any godly beings and she doesn't belive in the concept of marriage. I may not agree with her theory but, I do think she is a very strong writer and a strong person in general. Some may say that Natalie is self obsessed or they may say she has no idea what she is talking about, and that one day she will grow up and her views will change completely. Though I have a totally different perspective on Natalie. “Oh, how could you say that? You don’t even know her. Just be quiet," many will say, but listen, I know what I’m saying. We may not know each other, talk to each other or be in a 500 mile radius of each other, nevertheless, I already know a lot about her from just reading her piece of writing.
When Natalie writes, she knows what she is talking about and obviously had deep thought about her opinions before she put pencil to paper.She uses convincing language and her voice to her writing is powerful. Her piece was easy to understand and she got to the point clearly.
As well as looking at her writing in general, I looked deeper into her writing itself, and maybe why she wrote her piece. As you read in my first paragraph, I said that I believed that Natalie was a strong person in general. "Why do you say this?", you may ask. Well, what Natalie speaks about in her writing is definiteley against the norm. Our world, as in the world of young adults, as she says in her writing, is essentially based on religion, and most of our lives are influenced by our parents, who, if you are my age, in their forties, fifties, or sixties. Our parents come from a generation where going to church or place of worship is expected on the sabbath. Our parents also come from a generation where getting married, having kids and the whole shazam is what happens and there weren't really any exceptions. They expect us to be like them, considering they concieved us and we spend a whole lot of time with them.
Natalie goes against the grain of our parents. I believe for that reason, she could be a huge influence on OUR generation. For Natalie to go sit down and write what she wrote, then submit it to Teen Ink, is a huge act of bravery from my point of view. Not many people are couragouse enough to come out and give there point of view, because the are scared of negative judgement. Being able to address millions of readers with your drastic opinions of the world is awesome whether you get negative or positive feedback because eventually it will do you good. Natalie has done something similar to a teenager, "coming out of the closet" to her/his strictly catholic parents, or a democrat talking about her/his political opinions with a group of republicans.
I say that she is a huge influnce on our generation because, there are so many kids out there that have conflicting thoughts about religion, marriage, or sexuality ect. and have no idea how to express their thoughts. Natalie is the epitome of intelligence and confidence because she proves that to express your ideas, you don't have to make it complicated. Just come right out and say it, and the eventually people you love, and the people who love you will learn to accept who you are, even if it goes against who they are.
That is why I loved Natalie's peice, for her ability to convince, her eloquent voice and her inspiration she layed on me, and hopefully to many other teens in the world.