Showing Courage

 

 
   In the story "The Leopard", all the characters there showed courage in their own ways. Courage is the ability to control fear and to be willing to deal with something that is dangerous, difficult, or unpleasant. Ki, the Pygmy, has married a Pygmy girl named Luetsi. With them lived Ntio, Ki's brother. Ntio showed his courage by thrusting his knife into the leopard's heart without any hesitation. Luetsi showed her bravery by lying beneath the dead leopard even though it was scary staying in the wild alone. For me, Ki is the bravest among them because he showed his courage by rushing unto his wife in spite of his bad foot and although he was unarmed, he threw himself on the leopard in order to snatch his wife from the leopard's claws. 

How can someone show his/her courage in various situations?

   There are many ways to show our courage in various situations. We can show it by facing our fears and overcoming those. For me, having courage is also having faith, we just need to trust ourselves. Being confident in every situation is also an example of having courage or being brave. Even in doing very little things, there is always courage involved.

Is it important to have courage?

   Yes, it's important because it can really help us to improve ourselves. Having courage and confidence is such a big help to everyone because we can conquer a lot of things without being scared. We can face our fears and try a lot of new things by being courageous. 

   Let me tell you about an experience of mine. I have this fear of performing in front of many people. When I reached the age of seven, my parents gave me a children's party. There were many guests at that time. As a gratitude to our visitors, I was courageously able to perform a special dance number in front of them. I was able to overcame my fear with the help of my family. They supported and trusted me so much. They inspired me a lot. They always encourage me to do that performance. And yes, I was able to do that dance number successfully. I will never forget that special day. The courage to overcome my fear of performing in front of many people was a big help to me. I developed self confidence since then. It developed the better me.

Is Africa still a Dark Continent?

    The answer to the question, "Why was Africa called as the Dark Continent?" is that most people know very little about it. The necessity to write and keep records never arose in early African society, and therefore the popularity of written history never emerged, and wasn't even a necessary concept. However, there are extensive records of African history after European colonization in the areas that were colonized. Africa is the world's second largest and second most-populous continent. It is known as a rich continent because it has a large quantity of natural resources including diamonds, gold, sugar, iron, cocoa, palm oil, etc.

    Now, let's talk about the people and culture of Africa. African culture is expressed in its arts and crafts, folklore and religion, clothing, cuisine, music and languages. African arts and crafts includes sculpture, weaving, beading, painting, pottery, jewelry, headgear and dress. Art from particular regions have distinct characteristics depending on beliefs, values and customs, but common themes found in art include women, couples, children, animals, man with a weapon, or a combination of these. They are rich in animals that makes the continent more interesting and unique. Also, they provided those animals national parks to roam around freely, which quickly attracted the people to go and visit there.

    The real question is, is Africa still a Dark Continent? Africa is a rich continent and not considered as a dark continent now. Africans have many things in their continent to be proud of. For me, Africa was never a poor continent because they are naturally rich and have many more to offer. It's just the people underrates them, which they really need to stop doing. The thing that everyone should do is to respect their culture and traditions, and to not discriminate them just because of their looks.