The Courage of Children: Boston and Beyond XXXI

Khaliun Nomuundari
Odkhuu Khurelbaatar, Teacher
Od Complex School, Darkhan Province, Mongolia
Everyone has a story of courage, and I have one as well. Perhaps most of the
stories spoken by other children are positive and happy ones that are creating
good memories, or perhaps they are the stories of heroic acts. I have many
stories of courage that I can share with others that are heroic, like the acts of
defending someone and helping those in need etc. But the story I chose to tell
here is a sad one.
I had two best friends. We were so close that nothing could have separated us.
We were happy together, always sharing everything with each other. But, one
day, my two best friends did something behind my back that hurt my feelings
deeply. This experience led me to think that there is no such thing as “friends
forever,” and they can betray you for an exchange of something earthly. This
experience showed me how humans can be extremely unreliable when it
comes to valuing money over human relationships. This betrayal felt like I was
being stoned. The stones thrown at me not only hit my heart, but they also
hit my soul. It felt like these stones were not just regular stones, but ones with
arrows in them.
“Learning the lesson
of forgiveness
was my story
of courage.”
I didn’t want to lose my friends, even though they hurt me deeply. So, I
decided to forgive them. If I didn’t forgive them, I would have suffered more.
But I kept hearing the nasty, harsh words they had said replaying in my head.
They were torturing me mentally. From this experience I understood the
power of words. They are powerful enough either to kill someone or to heal
someone. The words that come from an angry soul are just like the stones I
described above. I decided that I needed to learn to forgive others quickly.
Otherwise, life is going to be very hard. If the best of friends, the most trusted
of friends, can do something that can hurt you, offend you, even curse
you with bad words, anybody can. Therefore, it will be easier if we keep on
forgiving people and just move on as fast as possible. Learning the lesson of
forgiveness was my story of courage.
The Courage of Children: Boston and Beyond
Volume XXXI
124 125