A Time When I Showed Courage

  Many people think that courage is when you help someone in distress, do something wonderful, something out of the ordinary, and people know you for it. Well, they're not wrong, but they're not exactly right either. Being courageous is also facing your own fear, something small, like a snake, for example. You could be afraid of snakes and people might think you're a wimp, but when you overcome your fear, you're still being courageous, just in your own way. Another way of being courageous is standing up for others. If one is being bullied, you can stand up for them and help them, and eventually become one of their friends. If you know you're going to get teased for standing up for yourself or others, yet you still do it, that's also being courageous.

 There was a time when I was courageous, too, in my own way. It was at back at my old school, I was in 2nd grade, and there was this girl (Let's call her Amy, so we know who we're talking about) who my classmates thought was weird. They shunned and ridiculed her. I really wanted to be friends with her because she seemed nice and fun to hang out with, but I was afraid of being teased by my other friends. They all said that she was a little bit mean and bossy, but they didn't personally know her.

  I thought about asking her to hang out with me several times over the next few weeks, but I didn't want to be teased about only playing with someone. At the time, I thought it was ridiculous to be teased just because you hang out with someone other people shunned. I still think it's ridiculous, and people still say stuff about you if you hang out with a person that a lot of people don't like. Amy looked really miserable, as if she knew that she was the topic of the conversations whispered among her classmates. I immediately felt guilty. I had been thinking about being friends for weeks while she had weeks of being lonely, sad, and feeling totally unwanted. I knew how that felt, and I decided that I was going to try to be friends with her at recess. 

 That recess, I asked if she wanted to walk with me. She said yes. I was really nervous and I kept fidgeting. I guess that she was freaked out, too, because she didn't seem to sense my discomfort. There were kids running all over the playground yelling at the top of their lungs. There was an awkward silent as we walked toward the track. Then she asked, " Do you play a website called Poptropica?" "Yes, I do!" I replied. We started talking about how to complete different places (If you play Poptropica, you might know what I'm talking about, if not, it's www.poptropica.com) and eventually, talked about our lives. It turns out that we had a lot in common. It turns out a lot of people do. Later, we started to hang out everyday, and I introduced her to my friends. We stayed friends over the last few years, but then she had to move. Even though we're miles apart, we still keep in touch!

 That day, the first time I talked to Amy properly, made me feel good. I felt that I had done something right, something that made a person's life better. I didn't feel courageous that day, and didn't even think myself of being courageous, until my friend told me, the day before she moved. In fact, to this day, I couldn't believe I had the courage to go up to her and ask her to take a walk.  That day, I faced two of my fears, helping someone who everyone doesn't like and making a new friend. Now, I don't listen to everything my friends say about other people. I try to find out myself, and if my friends are wrong, I tell them. 
 I overcame my fears that day by helping someone even though I was afraid of getting teased and making a new friend. That was a time when I showed courage.