Children of Courage

Earlier this week I blogged about what I call “ordinary courage.” But there’s also extraordinary courage out there in the world. And knowing about it, stopping a moment to acknowledge and honor it, can inspire us to be our best, most courageous selves. This applies to all of us. Grownups. And kids.

So check out The World of Children that scours the nation and, each year, gives awards recognizing heroes helping children. There are awards for outstanding work in the fields of education, health, social services, and child protection. There is also an award that goes to a youth (under age 21) for having the courage and determination to do something extraordinary to support other children.

Meet some of the winners:

At Nicholas Lowinger’s school, he noticed a couple of kids – a boy and a girl – who took turns going to school. Why? Because they had to share a pair of shoes. And the shoes were pink and sparkly. It was hard not to notice the boy walking through the halls in pink shoes. Some kids might have laughed or teased, others might have felt awkward or a pang of sadness. Nicholas felt the need to make things better for this boy. One possibility would be for Nick to give the boy an old pair of his own shoes. Better than pink but not the same as every other boy was lucky enough to have. So Nick got up his courage, bought a new pair of basketball shoes, and handed them to the boy. Since then, Nicholas has raised money and donated NEW footwear to over 42,000 children around the United States.

Claudia Gonzales Moreno was a 19-year-old engineering student in Mexico. As she traveled the streets of La Paz she could not help but notice the many homeless children living I parks, graveyards, and sewers. She wanted to help. But the children were skeptical and frightened. Claudia had the courage to be patient, to earn their trust, and then to help them. Using her own money, Claudia rented a house big enough to shelter 40 children. Together, they chose to name the house ‘Alalay’ which means “I feel cold” – never forgetting where they had been and the grace of Claudia’s courage to provide shelter.

Jaylen Arnold had to face his own little life with courage. At age 2 he was diagnosed with OCD, Aspbergers, and Tourettes. By the time he went to school, Jaylen was a target for bullies. Jaylen chose to fight back, but not with fists. He started a program that he has taken to over 100,000 other children, summoning the courage to share his own story – with the bullies and the bullied – exposing the excruciating hurt that bullying causes.

Check out more at The World of Children.

Share your stories about courageous children!