Story of the Moment

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Story of the Moment

The Story of the Moment comes from:

Rachel Langford

Plano, Texas

This award-winning story was written by 12 year old Rachel Langford. She's a seventh-grader at Wilson Middle School in Plano, and is a teen aide for the preschoolers at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton CCD. Rachel's played soccer for six years, and is now playing volleyball and learning the guitar.

tony gallucci, 30 November 2002

Signs of Courage

Often I see signs of courage that I never noticed before. Maybe I notice the signs now, because of the heroism from 9/11. Maybe I notice heroism because I am getting older, and paying more attention to the world around me. Or maybe signs of courage have become more noticeable because the people around me have become more courageous. Possibly it is even more simple. Maybe I have been more encouraged by all of these changes, and become more courageous myself. Maybe the signs of courage I have noticed are from within myself.

Everyone knows the heroes from 9/11. There were firemen that worked day and night at the World Trade Center to find people, some alive, most not. They continued to work in a terrible situation to locate the bodies and remains of people that died. Each time a fireman was found, no matter how late, they held a proper memorial. They wanted to remember and honor their workers. They wanted the families and friends to know that all of America recognized their heroism. Sometimes people say that they are only doing their jobs when they perform a courageous task. The truth is that most people do their jobs for their whole lives, and never have to risk their lives. These were people that risked their lives to help total strangers. The firemen in every town in the world do this all of the time, but now we have finally noticed them.

There are other heroes in my world that are strangers to me. They have probably always been around, and I was too much of a kid to notice them. Now I listen to the news in the car on the way to school, and I read parts of the newspaper that my parents leave laying on the dining room table. When Tom Brokaw is on the news on TV, I don't just leave the room in boredom. Instead I listen, and read, and I notice. Now I can ask my parents questions about the news and they give me answers that are real. In the process, I have noticed many signs of courage that I never saw before. The animal rescued by a group of school children; the conjoined twins separated by a huge medical team donating their time and expenses; a group of teenagers building a home in a poor part of town; and even hundreds of policemen trying to find the tiniest clue to stop a sniper in the Northeast. All of these strangers are spending their lives and their free time to make life better for other strangers. All of them are ordinary people like me, that I never noticed before. Lately, I am beginning to believe that they have been there all along, and I have only recently begun to notice them.

In contrast, there are the people that are around me, that I have known for a long time, but when times changed, they become more courageous. I have noticed my own sister show signs of courage. Four years ago, we were caught in a terrible tornado. Ever since then, she has been terrified of storms. Lately, however, as she has grown, and as our country has suffered, I have noticed that she has become braver. Not only is she calm during storms now, but she comforts my younger brother and sister. Since I know that she is really scared, but pretending to be brave, and helping others to be brave; I can see that as a sign of courage.

No question that I have become more courageous myself, for whatever reason. Surely all of the different events of the past year have made me a braver person. For instance, I have realized that I was never put off by homeless people, but afraid of them. I wasn't afraid that they would hurt me, but I didn't know what to say or do. Now, I have the courage to talk to them, find out about them, and give them a little bit of something that might help them. When I am downtown at my mom's office, I usually buy someone a cheeseburger and fries; or I buy a newspaper to help them out; or I just smile and look them in the eyes, say hello, and notice them. No one else notices, and it's no big deal to the rest of the world. To me, though, I have the courage to treat them as a human being. Maybe I should have done that all along, but only recently have I recognized that they are part of my world. That's my sign of courage today.

Tomorrow, I hope to learn from the past year. Hopefully, the adults in my world can learn the same signs of courage. The signs of courage from the fireman that carried out the dead remains of their countrymen and still kept digging. The show of respect and honor in difficult times is a sign of courage. My own sister conquered her own fear and then helped others to conquer their fear. Then there was me. Finally, I have begun to sense that there is a world of strangers who give their lives to save other strangers. That is a concept almost too difficult for me to understand. I will not stop trying, though. Just as I learned to treat the homeless person as a human being, I will learn to live signs of courage. I will find those people who live for something more than their own good. Those are the people that I will respect. Over the past year, I have learned in many ways to respect the signs of courage. More importantly, I am learning that those signs of courage are within me.