Courage - Prerna Rathod

Courage means an act of bravery.  It is to do something that you are frightened of. Courage has different meanings for different people. For example, for a dancer, courage is to be able to perform in front of everyone. For a speaker, it is to convey his views in front of everyone. For a leader, it is to keep up the team spirit in difficult times. But,  most importantly, courage is to take a stand for the right cause. 

We need the courage to conquer our fears. When we are trying to climb the steps of success, we must have the courage to face failure and accept it. It is only courage that will help us to try again and achieve success in our life.

 
There are 6 types of courage:
1.  Physical Courage: It means to do something against your fear like entering a dark room even if you are afraid of darkness. 
2.  Social Courage:  It means standing against others for what a correct cause. It may be to stand against your parents, society, for example, like organising a charity event, standing up to peer pressure.
3. Intellectual Courage involves asking questions and giving ideas during discussions or taking a risk in life to become successful. 
4. Moral Courage:  It means using our values into doing the right thing like helping a blind man cross the road or picking up litter and not caring what others will others say. 
5. Emotional Courage:  This implies always having positive emotions even if you are surrounded by negative ones. For example, caring for injured animals, helping friend grieve over the loss.
6. Spiritual Courage: This means asking questions or finding answers to questions like is there life after death? What is life? And so on.  It means opening to mysteries of life.

As Educators and parents, you must make our children understand why courage is important in our life. We can give them examples of our freedom fighters, who sacrificed their lives to achieve freedom for India. We must make our children understand that it was due to their courage to live in free India.

If children are taught to be courageous from an early age, then they will be confident to take the risk in their life. I would like to end with Walt Disney's quote "All your dreams can come true if you have the courage to pursue them".

Prerna Rathod 
The Fabindia School 
prd@fabindiaschools.in

Courage and Patience - Tarang JMMS

“I learned that courage was not the absence of fear. But the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid. But he who conquers that fear.” Nelson Mandela 

Courage is not something that everyone is born with. As we grow up we acquire this value through instances, situations, and adventures we experience in our life. Courage generally refers to being fearless but courage doesn’t mean you don’t get afraid. Courage means you don’t let fear stop you.

Patience is the ability to stay calm in any situation. Basically, we can say patience is tolerance. Tolerating the actions, reactions or any situation without losing your calm or getting annoyed. 

Once a teacher was taking a storytelling session with a primary class. She started narrating the story of ‘The Hare and the Tortoise'. A tortoise who was tired of the hare, who always bragged about how fast he could run challenged him for a race. The race started and the hare sprinted fast and reached quite a distance while the tortoise took tiny steps. After watching the tortoise, the hare decided to take a nap instead of finishing the race, as he knew that the tortoise would never overrun him. The tortoise on the other hand continued to walk steadily and past the sleeping hare and won the race.

The children really enjoyed the session. The teacher then asked them to describe the qualities they found in the two characters. To which she received many answers. The children described the Hare as proud, arrogant and foolish and the Tortoise as wise, courageous and patient.

The teacher then asked them which character did they liked, to which she got the obvious answer. Everybody liked the Tortoise. 

The teacher further explained how the Tortoise showed courage by challenging the Hare knowing that he would never match up to his speed, yet he didn’t fear. So we should not fear or if we do fear we should try to gather our courage and conquer our fear. 

The teacher then asked the students, 'If the hare had not slept would the tortoise wins the race'? The unanimous answer she received was NO. One of the students replied - God has made us different and we all have different skills. The tortoise could never run faster than the hare and would have lost the race.

The teacher smiled and replied to the student 'yes you are right but what made the tortoise won the race was his patience and his positive attitude'. She further explained how the tortoise was patient and walked with his own pace he won the race because he was consistent. It's not your speed, but your consistency that makes the difference.

The world is changing at a high speed and testing our patience. These days most people try to live like the hare. They want things to go fast. But it's ok to walk with your own pace you may take time, have patience and you will get what you want.

A teacher needs a lot of patience to handle the students. No two students are the same everyone is different and have different learning styles. She should be an example for the students. She should teach them that it's ok if you did it wrong you can try again. Failing and rejection are all part of the learning process. Have patience, learn to appreciate yourself and others and keep up a positive attitude.

Tarang JMMS@John Martyn Memorial School, Salangaon, Dehradun - Neelam Bhardwaj, Dolly Pharasi, Shalini Gurung, Laavanya, Joshi

Laughter is the best medicine - Urmila Rathore

Courtesy: Youtube.com

Laughter is the best medicine. It is frequently said, but only a few realize the depth of this statement. It acts as a powerful antidote for pain, stress and conflict. It connects you with others. It makes you focused. It can also heal and renew one's mind. Ability to laugh frequently can overcome problems easily.

Laughter and calmness are directly proportional to each other, both of which are qualities of a progressive mind. It cheers up your life, makes you happy, reduces stress and of course has a direct impact on the positivity you spread to others too.

Studies suggest that people who laugh frequently have better immunity, lesser stress, greater burnt calories in a day, regulated blood pressure and a higher body blood level. There are so many reasons to not be sad and just laugh or maybe smile!

It also gives you the power to forgive anyone soon. You can’t feel anxious, angry, or sad when you’re laughing. Isn’t it a superpower? It would not be an understatement to say that a small smile has the power to conquer the world!

Urmila Rathore

The Fabindia School

urd@fabindiaschools.in

Courage and Patience - Rectifier BHIS

‘‘Patience and Courage conquer everything.’’ – Ralph Emerson.

Samar was a poor boy, who lived in Mumbai in a small house with his grandmother. Their only source of income was his grandmother’s pension, which was barely enough for his school fees and other daily expenses. Samar’s school was far from his house. In spite of this, he used to walk to school, to save some money.

It was his first day at school as a 6^th grader. He reached school late. When he entered his classroom, all students were already in their places. His new class teacher was sitting at his desk and was noting down the attendance.

After Samar entered the class, the teacher called him over to his desk. He asked the boy the reason for his late coming. But Samar remained silent. The teacher just scolded him – this being his first day of a new academic year – and warned him to be on time. Samar listened patiently and went to his seat.

The next day, once again Samar reached school late. This time the teacher was angry, and as a punishment, he hit Samar on his palm with a ruler. Samar took the punishment silently and went off to his seat.

This carried on for a few days. Everyday Samar would be late and his teacher would hit his palm with a ruler as a punishment. Samar took his punishment silently and patiently.

One day when the teacher was on his way to the school, he saw Samar escorting an old lady, in a wheelchair, to a Daily Care Center. At that time the teacher understood the reason why Samar always came late to school. The teacher went ahead to reach the school on time.

Samar entered the classroom, late yet again. However, the teacher did not punish him. He recalled what he had seen on his way to the school. He asked Samar about it. Only then did he come to know that the old lady in the wheelchair was Samar’s grandmother. She had met with an accident two weeks prior to the start of the school, due to which she was unable to move around on her own, and had to use a wheelchair.

Hearing this, the teacher felt very sorry for punishing the boy without understanding his circumstances. He knelt next to the boy and hugged him with teary eyes.

The teacher's actions expressed his silent apology for his mistake. He openly praised Samar for his patience and efforts.      

In the end, Samar won over his teacher by his patience and relentless courage in facing the adversities that came his way.

It takes courage to accept one’s mistake and to praise someone’s efforts.

Rectifier @ Billabong High International School, Thane
- Pallavi Harkare, Kalpana Dodia, Mahalakhmi Iyer, Priyanka Iyer, Rajeshri Mohite, Prerna Khanna