The Wisdom of Our Youth

Published in the Home News Tribune Teen Scene
By KATELYN HANNEL (Age 14), BISHOP GEORGE AHR HIGH SCHOOL

I’m Catholic, and go to a Catholic school.

But for three days, I was a Buddhist.

No, I don’t mean I converted to Buddhism and then converted back. My world history teacher assigned our class a project so we could understand more about Buddhists.

We had to research the religion’s beliefs and principles; then we had to practice a few of those principles for three days.

I learned that the eight key ways of living in the Buddhist faith are called the Eightfold Path. By sticking to the Eightfold Path, you can clear your mind of bad thoughts and reach a state of peace called Nirvana. We focused on three principles during our three days. Right View means seeing the world as it really is, not how we’d like it to be. Right Concentration means to stay focused on the present, without worrying or dwelling on the past or future. Right Speech involves speaking kindly and truthfully and sharing your ways of living with others.

While I didn’t come close to Nirvana in three short days, I certainly gained a lot of peace.

In fact, this experience affected me more than I thought it would. It helped me to be more honest. It helped me to accept people for who they are. It also made me see things about myself I didn’t quite want to see. But seeing them has given me the opportunity to change.

The hardest thing for me to do was to live in the present. I’m constantly reflecting on the past or looking ahead to something in the future. But I think many teens are the same way. Maybe it’s hard to stay focused on the “now” because of everything that’s happened in the world so far, and everything we know is yet to come.

Maybe it’s hard because the world is big; by the time your mind can process what’s happening in the present, it’s already a thing of the past.

Maybe I’ll never know the exact reason it’s so complicated, but I’ll admit that I liked the experience of trying — even though it was difficult.

I would like to continue trying, too, because it helped me get back on track and stay focused on the task at hand.

The three days of my world history project took me out of my comfort zone. It felt strange — but it also felt right at the same time.

The more I think about it, the more I understand that this is the way that we all should be living, whether you’re Buddhist or Catholic, Jewish or Muslim, faithful or atheist.

Katelyn Hannel, 14, is a freshman.