“If everyone fought only for his own convictions, there would be no wars.” -Leo Tolstoy, War and Peace
The summer of my freshman year of high school that would transition into my sophomore year, I forced myself to read War and Peace solely to say that I had read it. After reading the first few chapters, I came across this quote. So simple, yet so profound.
I knew then I had my senior quote for the annual.
Why did this specific quote stick out to me? What made this any different than “The places you’ll go?” I read Animal Farm my senior year. Why didn’t I choose “All animals are equal but some are more equal than others?”
Because the quote itself isn’t strictly stuck on just war but life in general. If everyone took the responsibility to admit when they were wrong or sorry, many of the conflicts would happen. But it seems like human nature that we don’t. We have this tendency to blame others for our wrongdoings.
I thought of how many times I lied to my parents to avoid admitting I was wrong. The evasion of the simple truth comes from the adage: It’s better to ask forgiveness than for permission. Because that within itself is true.
Instead of sneaking off to do something that I felt my parents would disapprove of, I could have asked or told them all but the entire truth. But it’s something we don’t do. We avoid the truth not because it will hurt us, but we’re afraid that it will hurt others.
But if everyone did fight their own wrongs, I don’t think we would be bickering amongst our fellow friends.
Ethan Bridges-Garcia 
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