I believe in patience and respect, this can be shown in my mala or “buddhist beads”.  My mala beads help remind me that in life there are always going to be close minded people and that I need to try to be patient with them and show them respect. I have been working towards this since elementary school when I started wearing my beads.
In elementary school when I was about nine or ten years old I was getting bullied, kids were telling me that I was an atheist and would go to hell if I didn't believe in god. My bracelet was being taken away from me and thrown about the room. I was upset for being different and bullied. My parents told me that not everyone is open minded. Some people could not see other perspectives, if they were not what they believed in. My parents suggested that I learn more about Buddhism so that I could understand more about the religion and I could decide if that was what I wanted to represent. In doing my research I found that Buddhism is to be patient and respectful to people. I decided that I wanted to be me and represent my way of life I showed the bullies kindness and respect when they were teasing me and taking my bracelet because I knew that, that bracelet represented my beliefs whether it was on my arm or in the air. My bracelet has shown me to be more accepting of others even if they are not accepting of me.
Another time my bracelet reminded me to be patient and kind to others was when I was in eighth grade. We were just given lockers for the first time in that school and I decided to put a statue of Buddha in my locker. Our lockers did not have locks and so when a group of people found out I had a statue in my locker they proceeded to get into my locker and smash my statue. I was furious I ran at them with my fist ready to knock some teeth out. I saw my fist with the mala beads and I stopped dead in my tracks. They were to arrogant to see what they were doing. I let them have their “fun” and picked up the pieces afterwards. That was a very proud moment for me I was able to hold my personal emotions back with the help of my bracelet
A more recent event that my bracelet has helped me with was monday of this week. I was doing my “This I Believe Topic” and  was forced to go through a closed minded administration of the school, and given friday school. My topic, for those of you who are wondering, was the toilet, and with only the brief outline that was done on it I could not get the deeper meaning out. These people who were blinded by their own beliefs could not get past the comical light that I was pursuing my theme with. How have the beads helped with this problem? Its simple, they have reminded me that I believe in patience and respect even with the most pigheaded of people.