Being brave doesnt always mean that you didnt feel any fear while facing a trouble or a problem. It also means having to go beyond that fear in order to do whats right. It means that nothing can stop you from doing what you need to do, no matter what happens, even if you will still feel fear and pain along the way, and even if you might lose the battle just like these people who shared their experiences on Quora.
Comments have been edited for clarity. The source can be found the end of the article.
For me it was landing aboard an aircraft carrier, at night, in heavy seas and with a pitching deck up and down (and sideways too, as was unique to the USS Midway with its figure-8 pitching deck), along with heavy rain pouring down, and limited visibility to see where you are landing in the black of night.
Following a combat mission and with fatigue coming in, sitting in a sweat-soaked flight suit and trying to fly the most challenging approach yet needing absolute precision, is either brave or maybe stupid.
Flying in combat and getting shot at was far preferable than even a modest, night carrier landing.
Of course if I knew all this before I signed up as a carrier Naval Aviator, I might have chosen a career as an insurance agent. [No I wouldnt. I would do it all again, the good and the not so good, but I would be better the next time.]
John Chesire
I ask for a cup of coffee while traveling on an airline at the most opportune moment…just as the aircraft is about to enter a region of heavy turbulence. As the flight attendants start to wrap up their in-flight beverage service I decide to ask for one last cup of coffee…BIG MISTAKE! I get my coffee (I like mine with cream and extra sugar, never been a big fan of black coffee) and as I place it on my tray table, the pilot shoots out the announcement. Seated next to a pretty lady I fear for the worst.
The turbulence hits and I somehow manage to counterbalance the initial jolts to contain the hot liquid in the cup. With little time to add sugar or cream I decide to make the bold move…I gulp down four agonizing sips of the hot bitter black coffee.
One of the bravest things I have ever done? I guess not. Worth a place on the list? Definitely yes.
Agraj Sobti
I refused to give police a bribe.
I’m living in a country where police officers are always looking for easy money. They tend to focus to absolutely nothing just to make sure they part ways with a little bit something.
It was about 7 PM and there was no curfew at all. I was coming home from visiting a friend that’s when I met these police officers on the streets claiming to be patrolling. As their norm, they started threatening and shouting, asking where I am from and if I had any identification document. I told them where I was from, showed them my ID but still they couldn’t make me leave. They even smelled my hand mentioning that young people like me love smoking bhang. They found nothing. They checked my bag and found nothing illegal.
Things took a twist and they said that I have a case to answer why I am walking in isolated street at night alone. Which is bullshit because there is no law saying people shouldn’t walk at night and it was only 7.30 PM. However they suggested that if I buy them tea they will let me go. That’s their polite way of soliciting bribe. I told them that I had nothing with me. They even checked my wallet which I rarely use anyway and found only equivalent to a dollar. They were getting really angry this time or at least pretending to be so I can do something to sort them out.
Before knowing I was bundled on police cruiser. They were making fun of me saying if other people can give them money who do I think I was. They said they have power to accuse me of doing what I didn’t do. They even suggested that I should call my friends and parents which I strongly declined. I was determined that I did nothing wrong.
Reaching the police station, I saw that they weren’t giving up on me and they really wanted to book me in accusing me of wandering at night. Knowing the situation of the cells, I agreed that I will pay them. I used mobile money transfer service to send them the money after thoroughly negotiating.
They let me go but after stepping out of the police station I reversed the money and that made me feel proud of myself. They really wasted all that time in me to get nothing at long last.
It was risky because I know they tried following me but I took a different route. That’s how police here can get you to court answering a case they planted on you.
Ronnie Otieno
Letting someone you love go is one of THE HARDEST things to do in life.
I met an amazingly smart, beautiful and funny woman. I was instantly drawn to her. I was very attracted to her. I felt things for her I had never experienced before… and at an intensity that I had never experienced before. It was as close to love at first sight as I can imagine. She had a boyfriend but we went to graduate school together so I loved her from afar in the beginning. There were brief flirtations and lightning bolt smiles we shared, but that was it.
After awhile her and her boyfriend broke up and we started dating. Everything was amazing. We were in love. We were very compatible. I had thoughts of being with her forever even though 2 years before I was loving the single life and thought I’d enjoy being single till I was 30’s -40’s. She bowled me over and we were both very happy.
All of a sudden she pulled away and told me she couldn’t date me anymore. It was like having Conor Mcgregor hit me as hard as he could. She said that we started dating too quickly after she broke up with her boyfriend of 2 years and she wasn’t ready for a relationship.
I was devastated. I cried for days. My parents were visiting from out of state and I was going to introduced them to my future wife. I felt like everything I had known about life was shattered.
We had one last conversation were she said she wanted to still be friends. I can’t tell you how bad I wanted to say yes and be friends with her. Everything inside of me was telling me to be friends with her. To not let her walk out of my life. To take the friendship even though that’s not what I wanted. Looking back now, it was the biggest decision I’ve ever made in my life.
I told her I couldn’t just be friends with her. I told her that in another time and place we would be lovers. I told her that I wanted to be with her, but that I understood where she was in her life. I told her I wouldn’t be talking to her anymore and our relationship would be over.
It was the hardest thing I’ve ever done emotionally. I felt terrible for days after but eventually things got better. Life came back together.
I’ve very proud of myself for making that decision to move on from her.
The story doesn’t end there…..
After some time, she reached out to me. She said she had made a terrible mistake and that we were meant to be together. Taking time away from each other, enabled her to realize just how perfect we were together.
Today we’ve been married for almost 8 years and have an amazing son named Mason.
I don’t want to make a false promise to you that this will happen for you. Usually it doesn’t. You have to let go without any attachment to the future.
I do want to promise you that making a courageous decision in the right direction for you and your life will always work out in the end. Good luck.
Michael Arn
This incident happened when I was studying in my 10th grade. A male teacher hit my back with a throw ball deliberately. I was quite annoyed with the behavior. I chose to remain quiet. He came near me. I could sense that he was going to do it again. After a certain argument, I gathered my courage to shout at him – “Behave yourself” in front of 50 odd students. Humiliated teacher, stormed out of the place. The next day I was punished in front of my classmates for back-answering my teacher. Note that, none of my teachers knew what had happened behind the scenes and not one student was ready to narrate the incident. I was portrayed as a bad girl.
I did a little secret investigation (Well, I was 16 then, it was a big thing for me) on that teacher. Asked my junior friends, the students who attended his tuition classes. Turns out that, the teacher was lustful and many girls had similar experiences as mine, but no one had dared to speak up. I handed over all the information to the head mistress. The teacher was interrogated and after the certainty of the issue was proved, he was suspended. I felt really proud that I had the guts to stand up for myself.
Shruti Nayak
I stood in front of City Transport Bus as a protest for poor service.
This was during my engineering days in Mumbai, India. I used to take public transport buses, TMT (Thane municipal Transport) bus to get to railway station (The starting point for most of the buses with TMT employees deciding where would the next bus go) and back home.
I had to travel 3 hours everyday (if every transport went on time). The railways were well on time, however the bus transport service was pathetic. There was no proper schedule for the buses and people used to just pile up on the bus stop.
My exams were on. At one evening, I was returning from college after my exam and was worrying about the next days exam. I used to crunch my time as much as possible to study at home.
One evening, I was waiting for my bus on the bus stop to get back home ASAP. I could see disgust with service on peoples face but no one stepping up. I waited there for about 45 minutes and then I just lost it.
I got out of the line, stood in front of the road and blocked the road for all the buses that were passing. I demanded Till the time you dont allow a bus to us, I wont allow any bus to pass. People all over were confused as to what this boy is doing. The bus driver in front tried to hush me. I was adamant and soon the people around joined me. This got bus driver at back end.
This was taken immediately to higher officials to control situation. I was still adamant and did not leave the spot.
Result- We got allotted 3 buses immediately.
What I learned:
- Every patience has limits.
- What people think about you doesn’t matter. Nobody is going to stand for you. You and only you stand for yourself.
- In most of the situation, a leader/starter is needed.
Akash Naik
It may seem to be Tollywoodish, but the incident occurred on August 19,2015. I was on a train journey back from Pune after a hectic 4-day travelling excursion. It was almost 2,300 hours and the last train to Amravati was gonna leave. I, being a low budget traveler, dont worry much about the comfort but prefer the experience of overnight chats with total strangers which is a unique of general compartments in Indian Railways.
The train was so overcrowded that it was impossible even to hold a backpack in place. Suddenly, a young boy, maybe 20, quite healthy by physique, turned towards a group of shy non-maharashtrian people and made place for me to sit.
Later, I realized that he was actually intimidating them saying, “You guys have taken over the regional jobs and we (the locals) have to face unemployment..” and all those ridiculous things and was shockingly extorting most of the money from their wallets and they were begging to keep some money for food instead of fighting him back. I watched in shock how he was putting his hands directly into their bags and the group being almost 1520 in number were unable to act (being out of their region-Northern India).
More surprisingly,even the other regional people who understood what was happening were sitting mute spectators. There were a few young boys as well. I talked to them but they were unwilling to take the lead. It was then that I summoned courage and got a few boys by my side and called him out loudly. The boy was alarmed and just began stammering. We almost dragged him onto a hot seat and all the people started interrogating him. He immediately turned into a BHEEGI BILLI and silently returned all the money~10,000 Rs. Elders decided not to hand him over to authorities.
He may or may not have got his punishment, but the joy on the faces of the people in the group proved worth the risk.
Anuj Patil
Actually it’s not a bravest thing, though I wanted to share with you guys.
This happened when I came to Hyderabad from Delhi after completing graduation to join an MNC. In the beginning of the job I had nothing to do in IT industry so it’s called BENCH period.
One fine day, I was sitting near cafeteria. A chubby girl came to counter bought Cadbury Silk, and after finishing it threw the wrapper there itself instead of Dustbin. I can’t depict how invasive I became, but somehow I manage my tantrum and went to her who was busy with her friends in gossiping.
Me: Excuse me ma’am, can u give it to me (pointing to wrapper) I’ll throw it in Dustbin. She: Gazed me for while like O.^.o.
My Expression: O..o she must be going to shout at me or make a jump over me to leave me dead. But situation wasn’t as I thought. She smiled, picked the wrapper and threw it in a dustbin. And this is not the only one incident, I use to do such a stupid activity whenever I see someone throwing such things not in place where it supposed to be thrown.
Md Sarfraz
I saved my life from Bomb Explosion.
When I was in class 10, I was staying in post office because my papa was in charge of the area. But one day I was alone…
It was 9 pm,it is not too late for village but because of cold weather almost all villagers are inside their home. I was too tired after full day school and coaching. Outside was peaceful environment, only dogs barking was audible. I turned on radio Birgunj 99 Mhz and I was listening old music in slow volume. Almost my eyes were closed and I heard a big explosion sound. When I got up I saw only fires, my closed gate was opened, my books and notes were burning, my leg and hand were injured. I ran out from there. I called to APF camp and informed about this. Camp was just 1.5 km far from post office but police forces came after an hour. Till that one hour, I hid myself in trees. After that, police came and investigated. According to APF, it was presser cooker bomb. That night they kept me in police protection and asked me lots of questions and next day they send me to headquarter city Kalaiya. After that I left that village and that home.
I left all my old memories, bed every thing that day. I was sad because I left the place or room where I had stayed 9 years.
Sahil Vanita Kumar Jain
It was around 4 in the afternoon and I was returning from a nearby park after finding no one to play with, (after all no one wants to leave their homes on a summer afternoon in Delhi as its quite hot).
There was complete silence and no one was on the street except a few street dogs and a few people at the end of the street, which are commonly seen in Delhi. Being 14 years old, I was completely disappointed as I found no one to play with. I was very energetic and never wanted to rest I always wanted to do something or another.
Then I saw a woman (aunt) coming towards me from the other end of the road. She was having two big bags full of vegetables in her hand and was sweating badly.
After a few seconds, a guy on bike came and slowed his bike behind her, I thought is he Going to tease the aunty – then thought, the female:male ratio is declining really badly and boys arent getting enough girls so that’s why they are trying on aunties. LOL! All this was happening just 100 meters away from me. But what happened next was I have never thought off.
The guy snatched the womans chain and accelerated his bike. She screamed chor, chor – meri chain (thief, thief, my chain). As the aunty screamed, the people end of the street started running behind, all this was happening in fraction of seconds. The snatcher was coming towards me that was the only way to escape from the street. He was speeding up the bike and as the street ahead of him was clear he was sure that he would clearly exit without being caught, but what happened next changed his life and my day. As he was trying to pass on me I picked up a stone lying on the ground and threw on him. By chance it hit his chest.
It was a big concrete stone may be dropped from a construction site.
Immediately the snatcher lost his balance and fell of the bike. The people running behind him immediately caught him and started beating him. I just past the crowd and stood still for a minute to see whats happening.
And suddenly what came to my mind was He has seen my face and will he come back from jail and will take revenge. Actually I used to watch a lot of detective shows and the most famous of that time was vyomkesh Bakshi. The aunt still holding both the bags was running towards the snatcher and I ran back to my home thinking that the snatcher should not see my face.
After coming back to home I told the whole story to my mum – Her First Question Was – (Tjhe Chot to nahi lagi na?)-Are you alright?
Me – Nhi – No
After a few days I way completely planning what would I do if the Snatcher comes back to take revenge. But nothing like that happened… Haha!!
That aunty whose chain was snatched met me again in the park Praised me and told about how I stopped the chain snatcher. Now I was the hero for my park friends and used to captain my cricket team due to my heroic act. What else does a 14-year-old want?
Abhishek Tyagi
We were debating whether to go to Sanjay Gandhi National Park, Mumbai or not on a wee Sunday morning. After a lot of messages, three of us from the initial five decided to go.
I picked up my two friends, since I was driving, and we arrived at the gate. But we were starving, so we stopped for breakfast. This was a plain deviation from our usual routine of visits to the park. But well…
After breakfast, we started driving inside the park and about 5 km in, a motorbike skid right in front of the car in front of us. The car in front of us swerved and did not hit the motorbike or the 3 riders (the rider and 2 girls on pillion). But that meant that I was stopped with the bike right in front of my car. One of the girls riding pillion had hit her head with the concrete edge and was bleeding profusely.
I asked my friends to get off and go and help them, but as soon as I saw that she was getting concussions and folks were offering her water, I ran from the car and stopped them. The national park does not have a network connection so calling an emergency number or ambulance was not possible.
I immediately told the motorbike rider that we would put the bleeding girl in my car and take her to the nearest hospital. But all the people present were reluctant to pick her up, because of the apprehension to pick up a girl. I picked up her upper body and told her friend to pick up her feet, so that she was completely off the ground. I slid into the car with her head on my lap to reduce the flow of blood. All this while she was still bleeding. I asked my friend to drive my car, but he chickened out. So, I told my other friend to take my place and keep her head elevated while I drive. I drove the car for about 12 km soaked in human blood in a race to save someone’s life. The worst and scariest drive of my entire life.
We reached the hospital and informed her parents. In the meantime, we got her all the emergency medical care needed. By the time her parents arrived, she was doing okay and doctors had declared her out of all danger. I was still in the same set of blood stained clothes. I think the graveness and reality of the whole situation hit me head-on after I reached home and cleaned up. According to my friends, I was the only person thinking calmly there and even talking in a very relaxed and calm manner. I don’t know what I felt while things were happening; it just seemed like reflex action to me.
I still get goosebumps just thinking about it. But I know that if ever such a situation arises again, I will be just as capable of handling it as calmly. I think a little panic after all as well would be acceptable.
Chetna Kokal
Facing high school gangsters….at the cost of losing my friends
High school is hard enough for your average student, but being a nerd as well? Hah!
I chose to befriend those who shared my affinity for Pokemon, science fiction, and Final Fantasy. Alas, I ended up being a social outcast, with other outcasts.
Frankly, I didn’t mind it. School was easy, and I enjoyed my nerdy hobbies.
The real problem was the gangsters. My high school had an intense gang problem at a time when mainstream culture glorified it. To give you context, we had metal detectors at the doors.
Hilariously enough, most of it was contrived. There were very few actual gangs or gangsters, just people who made up groups or affiliations for the sake of being cool. As a result, a significant majority were “Wanksters“.
As you’d expect, they’d pick on the nerds to feel better. One day, I had enough.
Lunchtime. Spaghetti and meatballs. Sitting with the nerds. Wearing a new shirt my uncle had recently bought for me. Commenting on how good the meatballs were today when one passed my eyes and landed in my shirt. It had been flung over from the table next to us, which was full of some of the more popular Wanksters.
My first reaction was to take it and shut up. I ran off into the restroom to clean off my shirt. As I wiped the oh so red sauce from my shirt, I couldn’t help but cry.
The mirror stopped me. Who was this? Why was I here? Would it always be like this?
As clear as moonshine in the woods, a new fact dawned.
It wasn’t me.
Not me. I refused.
I headed back into the lunchroom and stopped at the nerd table. “Who’s coming with me?”. Naturally, my response was a lack of eye contact and disillusioned stares.
I walked over to the meatball flinging table and slammed my fist down onto it, hard enough to knock over a few drinks, “Who threw that?!”.
I stared around the table and remembered how worthwhile it was to see the responses. Cowering and pointing the finger at the guy sitting next to them. I asked again loud enough to attract more attention. Finally, one sat up and approached me. “You’re shagging with my table playboy”. “Unless you threw the meatball, I have no issue with you so back off,”I responded. He repeated himself and kept edging closer.
It felt like as lengthy as a film, but couldn’t have been longer than a minute. I stood there. After a lack of any meatball ownership, I decided it was over and headed back to my table. Nobody followed me.
Rather than the expected hero’s return, all but one of my friends cowered and looked at me with a sense of disgust. I glared around and asked why nobody helped me. No response. It was frustrating enough to go in alone, but to have no support? I decided to call it a day and head home early.
Over the next weeks, the Wanksters had stopped bullying “the nerds” almost entirely. Unfortunately, I also experienced a slow decline in interaction from my friends. For one reason or another, they didn’t approve of what happened, even with a positive end result. At some point, I’d asked if they couldn’t be there when I really needed them, were they really friends?
Moral?
Over time, I made new friends, some I’m still very close to. More than a few as a result of what I had done.
People respect self respect.
Maybe the nerds aren’t nerds for the hobbies, but for the lack of self respect.
TLDR: Mean Girls is an accurate depiction of high school.
This happened 4 years back. I was returning to the railway station in a Military Bus along with rejected candidates from SSB (Service Selection Board), deemed unqualified to serve our nation as Commissioned Army Officers.
The year was 2013.
Place: Bhopal
The bus slowed down at a major junction, crossing what seemed to be a garden attached to a Mosque. From the smoke and hustle of the traffic packed junction, I could make out a woman, middle aged and clad in Red Saree, being beaten up by a young man, hardly in his late 20s.
Just as I was standing inside the bus, indecisive as to whether raise an alarm, run to help, or just observe, a fellow candidate bent down through the window and shouted, pointing at the place
Kya karr raha he be vo? (What is he doing)
I was kicked out of my self-imposed hibernation, and all of a sudden, out of no where came a rush of adrenaline.
I pushed through the crowded aisle of the bus, asked the conductor to stop, and got out of the bus (Even today I wonder what made the conductor stop the bus, for we were his responsibility till we reached the railway station. Probably it was the traffic)
I was in a formal attire, with formal shoes and tucked in shirt and trousers. I opted to run towards the man.
Unknown to me, 10 other candidates had followed me, running behind me.
As I reached the garden, the young man caught a stride. The adrenaline pumped Me followed suit, mindless of the fact the all my baggage, wallet and everything that I need to reach back home safe was travelling in the opposite direction, in the bus.
I kept running, till I could grab hold of this man’s collar, and pushed him hard towards he ground. A mob gathered, and as it always happens in India, started beating him up when they saw 710 well dressed gentlemen taking charge.
I tried my best to dodge as many blows as I could from harming the perpetrator, inspired by some recent Kollywood flick which emphasised on Rule of Law.
We called up the police, which was not expected to be seen anytime soon. We left the man at the pity of the mob, and ran back towards the bus, which by now was some 500700 meters away.
By the time we boarded, I recieved a standing ovation from the entire bus of candidates. To say that I felt like a Superhero would be an understatement.
And this is the one thing which always makes me feel proud of myself, making me believe that even I can stand up against the wrong.
Mahi Balan M
I worked for a state child protection agency for 20 years and for much of that time, investigated reports of neglect and abuse of foster children in foster homes.
Members of my unit became aware of an ongoing concern in one particular foster home. We all became convinced that the foster mother was abusing the foster child. We began reporting our concerns to the child’s caseworker, the caseworker’s supervisor, and the regional manager. But our complaints were ignored, downplayed, or dismissed.
We didn’t have the authority to remove the child, so I told my coworkers that all we could do was document our concerns and the times and dates we reported them.
Tragically, our concerns were substantiated and the child was murdered by the foster parent. The next day, the agency took the official line that this was a total surprise and no one had any idea of the abuse. My coworkers and I were ordered to remove all our case notes pertaining to the matter. I refused. It is simply illegal to tamper, alter, or destroy case notes, and the administration was well aware of it. But our notes put the agency in a very bad light.
My coworkers, who were younger and had much less time with the agency finally complied, but I continued to refuse to alter my case notes. I came in one morning to find that someone had come in and removed the offending notes themselves. It left me no choice to file an ethics complaint against the very agency I had worked for for 20 years. After the ethics case was opened, the director claimed that the case notes were never altered and she had never ordered it.
Overnight, all the removed notes were re-filed. People told me I was risking loss of my job and possible future retribution by the administration. But I was not going to violate a national code of ethics, or my own inner code. And I did my best to get the word out to the press that the agency knew of the abuse and failed to act. And nothing happened.
I wasn’t fired, and the administration all stayed in place. The situation was ignored and finally forgotten. Fortunately for me, I applied for and was hired by another branch of state government shortly afterward, into a true investigative position. I had a caseload about half of my previous one, and got paid a lot more. It was a reasonable ending for me, but the fact remained that my agency knew about abuse, ignored it, and a kid died. I was told I was brave to stand up to my coworkers and to the administration. I’m not sure how brave I was, but know I had absolutely no alternative.
Maggie McQuaid
This incident happened a month back, when I was traveling on a train from Kolhapur to Mumbai. I was traveling in a general compartment and as it was a weekday the train was almost empty.
At one station, some 810 people boarded the train. By looking at them, I was pretty sure that they belonged to some political party and one of them was a corporate in Kolhapur.
It was almost 12:30 PM and railway workers started distributing lunch to everyone.
The lunch in an IRCTC train looks similar to this.
So all of the 8 people started eating their lunch. I completed it before them and threw my waste in a dustbin. They looked at me and started laughing. Firstly, I didn’t get the reason behind laughing so I ignored them. After that, as each one of them finished their lunch, they started to throw it out of the window. I got furious and told them not to litter the surroundings while they should go and throw it in the dustbins provided.
They again laughed at me and told me to do whatever I can to stop them and emptied their waste on the railway tracks.
I was angry, I informed the TC regarding the matter. He didn’t bother about it much. Then I tweeted Mr. Suresh Prabhu (the then Railway minister of India) regarding the issue and on the next station itself, two policemen entered our bogey and fined them. Also they were forced to leave the train.
For the first time, I felt proud of the ministry in India.
tharwa Thigal
I was 25. My office looked out on a major road, and I witnessed a major accident (10 meters from my office. I had a huge glass bay window so I witnessed the whole incident. An older car rammed the back of a stationery car at an intersection (the front car had stopped at the red light). I saw that after the accident, the driver was waving his had around.
I rushed outside, to the car, forced open the door, which was jammed after the accident. I noted that the driver, a middle aged white guy was almost choking, and spitting out. He had a medic alert bracelet on. I realized that he was having a seizure or some sort of a panic attack. I remembered from my childhood days, when one of our first eleven soccer players was tackled badly, and he had a similar seizure, and one of the sideline spectator was a medical person, who rushed in, and inserted his fingers into his mouth to stop him from swallowing his tongue, which could suffocate him.
He did mention that the risk was he could be bitten hard on his hand, but there was nothing else he could use. Without any hesitation, I put my fingers into the guys mouth, and stopped him from swallowing his tongue, yet allowing him to breathe. There were several onlookers, and an ambulance was called within 30 seconds of the accident, and they arrived within 10 mins as we were almost 2km to CBD. He was taken away safely, and I got a pat on the back by one of the ambulance officers. I was pleasantly surprised the next day to be called by a sweet sounding lass, who asked me out on a date (she had witnessed the incident and worked in the opposite building) 😉
Kesh Maharaj
I live in a very racially mixed neighborhood. One day at the Korean supermarket I spied the store security waiting for the police with handcuffs on an old West Indian woman.
I got nosy and asked the Korean man what she had done. He replied, She stole three packs of meat. It must have just happened because the police took a while to come. As a black person I felt a lot of sympathy towards this black woman.
So I asked Mr. Korea, Do you think its okay to put her in jail for stealing food? Why not just take your meat and let her go?!
He said NO!
The total value of the stolen meat was about $13. I gave Mr. Korea $15, and asked him to let the woman go with the meat. He agreed, let her go, and told her not to come back.
Two kids ran up to me and gave me huge hugs as I walked to my car after my shopping.
I saw the woman running up to me with exactly $6 dollars in her hand. I kindly declined, and told her that it was my pleasure.
As I drove away anger starts to form. This man didn’t see it as a big deal to put someone in jail for being hungry. I can understand his perspective if she stole anything else. But not food.
Gerry Sankara
In my eyes, being brave does not just means to be physically strong, it equally relates to doing something out of your comfort zone with complete confidence even if you fear taking a step ahead.
Just like most of the human population, I too used to get frightened of public speaking until I overcame my fear and went ahead to host a plethora of events and taking part in debates and winning them successfully.
If I hadnt pushed myself to participate, I dont think that fear would have ever gone away, and I wouldnt have grown at the personal level. And therefore, I can proudly say that the little step that I took towards my fear to embrace it with open arms led me to become a more confident person that I am today.
I insist everyone to try and step ahead bit by bit at their pace towards the things they fear the most until they finally start feeling comfortable about them. More importantly, if youll put all your hard work and do those things with immense love and pleasure, youll never fear of doing them in your life in the future. So, be brave and get your dreams fulfilled.
Adam Jackson
I had a job at a non-profit organization. I held that position for 12.5 years. I had job security. I had a pension that would have paid well upon retirement. I had solid benefits. I would have at the very least worked my way up to one of the most senior positions if not the executive director position in the following 5-10 years. I could have had my entire career at this organization. Retirement, as I recall, would have been in 2032 or along those lines.
I had all of this. But I was bored. I had had enough of a job in which I felt stagnant.
So…I quit.
I became a consultant. No salary. No benefits. Get paid from what I clients I brought in and the work I performed. Pay my health insurance from what I brought in. No retirement, no ability to pay health insurance? No health insurance. No 401k. No pension. No nothing.
Best choice I ever made. It lead to the job I have now and I still consult on the side.
Everyone was shocked though. I am not known for being a huge risk taker.
Jennifer Ellis
I’m from India and in my final year of B.Tech currently.
I’m Gay. I revealed it to my close friend.Considering the social and family environment in India, which is silent on homosexuality, that was indeed a bold step by me having spent years pondering over the question.I’m still closeted and haven’t revealed it to anyone else.I feel bad about being closeted. But then university campuses across India are not yet open to the idea of having openly gay students on their campuses. IITs are an exception though. There are many openly gay students on IIT campuses and LGBT resource groups have been formed. There are no LGBT resource groups in other universities and sadly i study at one such university. That implies i may well become the first openly gay student while on campus if I come out. I have no idea how it would be received.Here are a few possibilities I thought about.
- I might be fully accepted and being gay might not be perceived as a great deal and my campus life would be the same as earlier. This is an ideal case.
- After the word reaches the faculty,the head of the department who considers me to be his best student might summon me and explain me how i’m ruining my family reputation and so must keep away from any such thought of revealing.
- Worse,i may have to face the disciplinary action for reasons only they feel convinced about.
Having said that, I don’t see a ray of hope at least in the environment I’m in this year. I strongly want things to be better for my juniors. Hope someday I get to see out and happy students on my campus.
Anonymous