The Courage of Children: Boston and Beyond XXXI
Award-winning essays on courage written by sixth-eight grade students participating in The Max Warburg Courage Curriculum.
Award-winning essays on courage written by sixth-eight grade students participating in The Max Warburg Courage Curriculum.
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Josmil Binet<br />
Alex Veloz, Teacher<br />
Bellesini Academy, Lawrence, MA<br />
We all have times when bad things happen to us, <strong>and</strong> we have to do things that<br />
we do not like to do. This happened to me when my house burned down. It<br />
was very hard to get over, but I had to do it. I was very scared in this period <strong>of</strong><br />
my life because I felt very vulnerable <strong>and</strong> constantly felt like something was<br />
going to hurt me. Many things were going on in my life during this time. This<br />
is the story <strong>of</strong> how my house burned down <strong>and</strong> how I overcame it.<br />
I was asleep when my dad woke me up. I heard a very loud knocking on the<br />
door <strong>and</strong> saw blue <strong>and</strong> red lights outside on the street. I was frightened. I<br />
followed my dad <strong>and</strong> watched him wake up everyone. When we went outside,<br />
I saw a big fire in the attic. <strong>The</strong>n, I saw the woman who lived in the attic on<br />
top <strong>of</strong> the second floor porch, <strong>and</strong> I saw the fright in her eyes, just like I was<br />
feeling. She was right next to the fire, <strong>and</strong> the firefighters got her out. I was<br />
worried because I did not know what to do. That night, I went to my aunt’s<br />
house, <strong>and</strong> my parents went to our second house that we rented to people.<br />
<strong>The</strong>n, the next day, we came to get our things, <strong>and</strong> I saw a lot <strong>of</strong> water on the<br />
wall. We went back <strong>and</strong> forth for a while between houses. We kept moving<br />
from a hotel to an apartment.<br />
“Because <strong>of</strong> the<br />
courage I had, I was<br />
able to overcome<br />
this hard time<br />
in my life.”<br />
I learned many things after this experience, <strong>and</strong> the most important is to<br />
appreciate the small things in life. After losing it all, you wish you had at least<br />
the small things left. This was very important to me because I would not be<br />
the person I am today if it weren’t for that fire. Because <strong>of</strong> the courage I had,<br />
I was able to overcome this hard time in my life. Because <strong>of</strong> this experience,<br />
I learned to be grateful. I hope that if you read this story, you will learn<br />
something as well. I hope that after hearing this, you will also have more<br />
gratitude for the small things in life.<br />
<strong>The</strong> apartment we were staying in was small, but we all fit in. We had to get an<br />
exterminator for the bugs, <strong>and</strong> I was excited to go back to school. I was very<br />
uncomfortable because <strong>of</strong> the change <strong>of</strong> environment. I was also very worried,<br />
because many things could happen while we were working on the house.<br />
After school, I would have to go home <strong>and</strong> help fix things. It was hard, but I<br />
did it because I was able to help my parents so that we could go back home.<br />
My dad also got some help from the company he works with. Because <strong>of</strong> my<br />
dad’s injury, it was even harder to manage, but he worked very hard. We also<br />
got help from friends <strong>and</strong> family members to help us to rebuild our house.<br />
Overall, it was a very hard time, but we had to overcome this challenge to<br />
continue our regular lives. When we finished our house, I was glad.<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Courage</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Children</strong>: <strong>Boston</strong> <strong>and</strong> <strong>Beyond</strong><br />
Volume <strong>XXXI</strong><br />
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