THIRD WEEK OF OCTOBER

BRAVE: Valor, courage, doing what is right despite of being afraid

Vs. Cowardly or Foolhardy

  • SUGGESTED READING:
    Becky and the Bear
    Keep the Light Burning
    The Hayes Book of Acts of Courage
    The Red Badge of Courage
    Beowulf

FAMILY ACTIVITY:

  • Talk to your children about the difference between being brave and being foolish. Bravery is not ignoring danger; it is honorably surviving it.
  • Talk to your children about how brave it is to tell the truth even if it will get them into trouble. In the future when they admit that they have done something wrong, before you punish them, thank them for telling the truth and tell them how proud you are of them. Later, after their punishment is over, tell them again how proud you are of them for telling the truth.

CLASS ACTIVITY:

  • Assign a paper on "the bravest person I know" or "the bravest thing I have ever done."
  • Discuss: How do we show bravery in our lives? Is bravery always shown by acting, or do we show bravery by not doing things as well? What are some examples of being brave by refusing to act?
  • Have students perform skits or write short stories about someone telling their parents or boss about having made a mistake, like breaking a window or losing something.

HIGH SCHOOL ACTIVITIES:

  • Discuss the treatment of bravery in Beowulf or another work. Does it rate bravery as a more or less important virtue than we do in modern America? What are the advantages and disadvantages in the different valuations of bravery? What is it about bravery that is so important to use that we exalt it as a great virtue?

"Accept the challenges so that you may feel the exhilaration of victory." -General George S. Patton

"Bravery has no place where it can avail nothing." -Samuel Johnson

"Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure, than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in the gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat." -President Theodore Roosevelt

Perform a Random Act of Kindness Each Day

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