Bethany Hamilton - a Surfer Interview

Bethany Hamilton, a surfer who lost her left arm to a fifteen foot tiger shark, once said, “Courage doesn’t mean you don’t get afraid. Courage means you don’t let fear stop you.” I agree to this statement full heartily many people have told me that courage means you are not afraid of anything or anyone but I disagree with this I believe that courage means you move on despite the fear. I, like many others, have had to be courageous, it was this year in the month of October. My church and I went to Magic Mountain, Six Flags in California. I really only went for one of my best friends as I am afraid heights and small spaces but my fears are not really relevant at this moment. I am a person who is often shy and does not like to talk to new people, but in our church there is a girl, older than me, who is disabled she can not walk without a walker if she does walk. And this is where I think I showed courage.

I had been wanting to talk to this girl for a while but I could never get near to her as she always came slightly later, I would get to church half an hour early, so she would not get run over by the two hundred teenagers that went to our church at the time. After church she and I both had to go to our group meetings so I never got the chance to really talk to her. After my church got off of the bus at Magic Mountain I was waiting for my group to finish getting ready as it was a overnight bus trip and they were not ready, I saw the girl and her caregiver getting off of the bus without anyone else. We were told that we had to have groups of three, my group had four people and so I went up to the girl and her caregiver and asked if they would like to join our group as I did not want to go on to many roller coasters and as such was going to wait at the exit place. This benefited all of us because I would have had to be on my own as the other three were on a coaster and they did not have enough people in there group.

Through out the day my group and I were hanging out with the girl and her caregiver and now whenever I see her I try to go up to her and just talk I often help her get to her chair as my friends and I often sit near her. I rarely see anyone else near her so I am doing my best to be a friend to her and just talk. If I had not went to the trip despite my fears of heights, small spaces, and talking to new people she and I would not have made a new friend that day. Even though people say that courage is not being afraid I disagree I believe it is moving on without worrying about your fear.