What is Courage?
I cannot promise anything, but my plan is to be able to complete every writing assignment that I assign my students. Correcting papers and planning lessons may take precedent, but I hope that by doing what I ask my students to do, they will see that writing is not simply a torture device used by teachers, but rather an authentic tool for self-discovery, communication, and entertainment. If I really love writing as much as I say I do, then I might as well being doing as much of it as possible.
The first mini-journal question given to the students (to start them students thinking about Anne Frank) was to define courage. Here is my attempt.
I believe courage is the ability to reveal oneself to the world as honestly as possible. The ability to bare one’s true thoughts and feelings, and to make oneself vulnerable and open to the world is the ultimate act of bravery. We spend so much time protecting ourselves and building walls to keep the world out and ourselves safe, that we forget that being exposed to the world can be a very rewarding experience. I feel that this act of self-exposure is the true nature art.
Whether in writing, music, drama, or painting the artist is constantly asking, daring, begging, inviting the world to “come on in and take a look.” The artist sees this openness as a way of connecting to other human beings. The artist is not afraid of judgment or evaluation, because we are simply being ourselves. This take more courage than most people comprehend.
Just last night, I attended the fall drama and modern dance performance, and seeing my students up on that stage, completely opening themselves up to the world, made me feel so proud not just of them, but for every artist, for every daring person who doesn’t care what the world says or thinks about them, but will dictate to the world how they wish to be viewed. Great job everyone who was involved in last night’s performance! You truly are courageous.
Here are some of the bravest people I know. Do you know who they are ?
Filed under: General and
“I’m going through a spell of being depressed” I’m reading the book night and this remind me of my book because as the Jew’s go through the concentration camps I could tell that they were not happy and that they felt really bad and were very depressed in what was happening to them. This book is a really good book and it describes the holocaust really well. I think that you guys should read this book because it’s a very good book but yet at the same time it’s very depressing. As a result the holocaust is a very sad time for lots of people and it was one of the saddest things in our pastime.