Jennifer, I don't think your last few thoughts are congruent with this young woman's perspective of her faith. In her own words "What I love about Buddhism and what drew me to Buddhism ...is ...the idea that I am in charge of my life ...everybody is in charge of their own lives and I think that's very liberating because no one is going to help you ... I have to be responsible for myself. I have to be mature.... [asking] is what I'm doing benefiting mankind? Am I being selfish? ...you have to be that person all the time." Also, Mihiri mentioned realizing during her conversion "[She] was in charge of [her] destiny". I'm not Buddhist, but we need to be careful when trying to synthesize other perspectives.

I found Mihiri statements very confusing and contradictory. But applaud the fact she is working in her conviction and trying to find her way in life. Keep going Mihiri!

A big part of Buddhism is philosophical, when the philosophical part couldn’t be understood; Buddhism becomes a religion of superstitious rituals of images worshipping.

To understand Buddhism, you would have to understand reincarnation which wasn't discussed here.

The next question I would ask is What motivates one to do good deeds in Buddhism?