For 13 years I had to say a prayer at the beginning of the day, in the middle and at the end. For 13 years I had to go to a school mass once a week, which then turned into once a month. For 18 years I have been a Catholic.

Religion is religion. It's instilled on kids by parents. It's a cycle, for many. People are raised a religion, they turn away from a religion, and they return to the religion (usually for their kids). However, this cycle is confusing. Are people becoming a part of a religion just to make themselves look better to their kids and others? Seems that way.

As a girl about to enter college, having been raised Catholic, I don't know what to think anymore. Do I believe what I believe because I was raised to or because it's what I really believe? I don't know what I believe anymore. Going on a mission trip with my Catholic school, I stopped to think about whether people were helping to help or to help themselves. Were they just helping to gain brownie points or because they actually cared?

With the intricacies of religion involved, motives are easy to be questioned. Being a Catholic, it seems like superiority is fed on and inferiority in pitied on. We practice compassion to gain something for ourselves. I think it's time to take a step back and realize that religion doesn't define you as you or me as me.

You should help because you care, not because you want to be seen as a better Catholic (or any religion) in the eyes of others.