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Isiah Boyd
Erskine, Deborah
College Composition 111
23 October 2016
Stepping Out Into the Unknown
Courage is a beautiful thing; humans display it in all sorts of ways in their everyday lives.
Acts of courage can be displayed on a big scale, or even on a smaller one. Throughout history
courage has been exemplified by all sorts of people, their acts of courage has provided a
foundation for the society we live in today. Without these individuals, many of the things that
we cherish today would not be here.
History has shown individuals around the world perform courageous acts, but
focusing on acts made by Americans is enough to be filled with awe. For instance, Harriet
Tubman, an American abolitionist who was a slave until she escaped who would return to slaveholding states to help other slaves escape. She could have just lived her life after escaping, but
she daringly sought to help others who were captive. She would led these slaves safely to the
northern free states and to Canada. The work she was doing was very dangerous; she could have
been recaptured and forced into slavery again or even worse, killed. Harriet, deemed the
conductor of the Underground Railroad, courage paved the way towards the long process of
abolishing slavery. Another part of American history where courage was displayed by not just an
individual but by a group of people was the exploration of space. During this time, these people
were literally exploring the unknown, to them space was just a vast pit of darkness. Faced with

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many uncertainties and fear, humanity journeyed out into space and made massive discoveries
that would not have been made if these individuals did not have the courage to do so.
Every student in a classroom setting has experienced the agonizing fear and anxious
feeling of being called on by his or her teacher to answer a question. They are countless reasons
why a student would not want to be called on, whether it is fear of giving the wrong answer or
simply they do not know the answer. It takes courage for a student to face the discomfort of
providing an answer to the teacher in front of the whole class, with all the endless possibilities of
what could go wrong. This is a perfect example of courage on a smaller scale and should be just
as recognized as the grand acts of courage.
Dare devils throw caution to the wind, traveling at speeds well over 75mph on a
mechanical monster weighing somewhere around 4 times their body weight, soaring in the air
reaching 40-50 feet above the hard dirt ground. Doing theatrics to amuse the audience that if
done incorrectly could be fatal, acts such as jumping through rings of fire while doing numerous
flips and spins. Some people would dub these dare devils as menaces to society, but many
perceive their stunts as displaying courage. These individuals participate in this dangerous sport
to entertain others and possibly just for the love of the adrenaline rush. It takes massive amounts
of courage to risk their lives for the entertainment of others.
Ultimately, courage is simply defined as the ability to do something that frightens one,
but many people have the predisposed mindset that courage has to be something grand to be
recognized as a courageous act. The little things that people do involving them doing something
that requires them to step out of their comfort zone are just as courageous as the widely
recognized heroic acts of courage we see in the news. With that being said, the heroic acts of

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courage recognized in the news are not to be dispraised, but the acts of individuals who display
courage in their own way should be just as recognized and appreciated.