Great definitions of courage

After reading through a number of definitions from the Lab School for Creative Learning, a group that just completed a Learn to Ride at Keystone, I felt compelled to share a few. The creative mind of a 5^th grader is a wonderful thing!

“Courage is a big part of life. The first thing that takes courage is exploring. Like if you are in the woods and come across dangerous wildlife. You can get hurt too. The next thing that takes courage is SOS. I am scared to snowboard in front of everyone. I am scared to be away from my parents for that long. Finally, it takes courage to go to school on the first day. You could have no friends. It is scary to meet the teacher. That is how courage is a big part of life.” –Nick, Lab School 5^th grader

“To me, courage is what you believe about things and if you stand up to what you believe. It doesn’t take a lot of courage to believe that something is true but it does take a lot of courage to say “I believe”. For instance, if you believed that pickles taste good and someone tells you that you shouldn’t think that, it would be courageous to tell them that you believe pickles are good and they don’t have to believe the same thing. I also think courage is to stand up for your friends. Say that a bully was picking on you best pal and he couldn’t get away. You shouldn’t just yell “goodbye” and run off, you should get a teacher. That would be courageous because it takes guts to get a person (who could easily hurt you) in trouble. I also think courage is having the quality to acknowledge your feelings. Like if someone calls you a mean name being courageous would be to tell them that what they said hurt you and not to do it again. You could keep your feelings personal but when you share them they would probably stop making fun of you and you’d be proud that you had the guts to share your feelings. That’s what courage is.” –Patrick, Lab School 5^th grader