Other essays on this theme

Essay: "Courage"

by Johnathan Hooper
Of all that there is to be courageous for, I feel that what should be recognized as also courageous is all the boys and girls who have no family, that enter the care of the state. They enter into a world unknown. With no one to lean on. Going through foster homes or boys and girls homes all around the state. And the only ones they can familiarize themselves with are the other kids around them, for they all have that one thing in common: they're all alone in the world without any family.

I've known kids as young as 6 years old going through boys and girls homes. What are known as RTC in Texas (residential treatment centers). I was one of those kids. And it's an unfortunate surprise to find out that they have problems that lay deeper than the reality of not having family. Some have attempted suicide. Ran away, only to be caught and brought back. Then there are those who cling to each other. They form an unbreakable bond, but when it's time for one of them to move on to another RTC for whatever reason, then that's the hardest part. The holidays come and its nothing like the real thing. But the staff and the coordinators try to make it as real as possible (although that is probably the only time that some of the staff are ever considerate to the kids). But nothing will ever take away the reality of their lives and the biggest fear is "what's gonna happen to me when I turn 18? Where am I going to go and to who?" The future is always uncertain. Some kids will say "I'm going back to this person or that relative." But it never happens.

These kids can easily give up on life. But for some reason they keep holding on. Maybe because their hope or faith of going back home is a constant reminder, a reassuring hand that is there pushing them along. Or maybe its that they just want to walk away from their past and start a future of their own to show those who took their first life away and say "look at me now, I did this without you so I never needed you." Whatever it is, it's alive inside of their hearts and that's the one thing that no one can kill or take away, hope.

Courage belongs to the kids who are not yet old enough but are already fighting the fight of life's tribulations