j.s. was a student of mine during my last semester at UT. i had known him for a fairly long time. he is a shy man who has strong convictions. he is also a very pious christian, very active in his church community, and extremely spiritual in daily life. as a progressive christian, too, he is one of those few who seem to follow fundamental tenets of jesus's preachings while also accepting and celebrating the rights and lives of others. his piety has been so clear to me from the moment i met him, i could think of nothing else to create for him but the simple character for "belief" or "faith." it is actually a very difficult character to write--its simplicity makes it extremely difficulty to find balance and symmetry. i must have filled up several sheets of paper just practicing the different parts of this character before i felt i could try it out on a card. even then, i believe i had to scrap a few. incidentally, this character consists of the right half for "word/speak/speech" set next to the left half for "person/man/being." faith is standing by one's word, i suppose.