It’s a good day, and you are walking to lunch when a classmate stops to tell you that he “forgot” to do his Laws of Life essay. He then pulls out his notebook and begins to do it. About midway through the page he gets frustrated and asks you to see you are essay. You know this is cheating, but he is your friend, and you want to help him. What do you do? Do you give it to him? Do you stand up to him? Do you just walk away? Do you turn him in? Courage is the most important Law of Life.

Courage is important because many times in life, you will be faced with tough decisions, and you will need to know how to make the right one, no. When my friend asked me for my essay assignment, I desperately wanted to help him, but I knew that would be cheating. So, I said no, and walked away. Moments later, I watched as another one of my classmates approached him, he showed him his essay. As they sat there cheating off each other, Mrs. Noles – our Lit teacher — found out they were cheating. It wasn’t easy for me to tell my friend no. However, in that moment when I had to make a decision, I had courage to do the right thing. Even important and powerful people must make tough decisions.

Another reason courage is important is because there might come a time when someone is picking on you or a friend. In this situation, you will need courage to stand up for yourself or others. Recently our school got nice smart boards in class. Each one has a little USB in it so that the teachers can control it. A few weeks ago, some stole the USB, and has not returned it. For some strange reason, my Lit teacher thinks it was me. I’m just an innocent kid, and I would never steal something that’s that useless. So, I had to say it was not me who took the USB. This took a lot of courage for me to say. Without courage, I would never have been able to confront my lit teacher. My courage in this predicament made a difference in my life. If I didn’t stand up for myself then I might have gotten ISS or even OSS. I learned that courage is not hard to find in a difficult situation.

In conclusion, courage is the most important Law of Life because you will need it throughout your life. As J.K. Rowling, author of the well-known Harry Potter series, once said, ‘It takes a great deal of bravery to stand up to our enemies, but just as much to stand up to our friends.’ Next time you see something wrong, gather up all your courage, and do something about it because if you just stand there and watch it happen, you are part of the problem, too. Remember, courage can make a difference in your life.