The Last Word

By Taine Bayly | Posted: Tuesday June 28, 2016

Courage - Most of this term we, as a school, have heard a lot of the word “courage”. When we hear “courage” most of us know it’s a good thing to have, but do we really understand what courage actually is or can be?

Throughout the last eight weeks we have heard the story about Rob Hall, the mountaineer, who tragically died trying to save his mate who ran out of oxygen when a storm hit on his descent of Mount Everest. We have also heard about fellow students having the courage to move out of their comfort zone, from a school of 75 pupils to a school of 750 pupils, leaving most of what they knew and had behind to give themselves new opportunities at this school. In my opinion these are more extreme examples of courage.

To me, courage has a different look for each individual in this school. For some of us it may simply be the courage to say “no”, or it may be persevering with that early morning gym session. It could also be taking responsibility for your own failure or it may even be the courage to speak up inside and outside of the classroom.

We all have different situations that we may fear or feel challenged by. When faced with these situations don’t take the easy way out, be courageous and be willing not to do what is easy, but to do what is right.

As per tradition, I am going to finish with a quote by Winston Churchill:

”Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen.”