Facing Danger with Courageous Wisdom
By Josiah Newman

When I lived in Alaska, there was a creek that my family and I really enjoyed to visit. It had tons of small rocks that were just the right size for throwing and a patch of boulders piled up on one side of the stream. To the right of the path, there was a metal bridge crossing over the stream from hill to hill. All around us, there were evergreen trees, and I loved listening to the wind moving through the leaves. When I was there, I felt peaceful and lively because of the beauty all around me, the sounds of the birds singing, and the water trickling around the rocks.
One day, we were out at the creek with our friends when, suddenly, a large black bear appeared in front of the tree line. The black bear was looking right at me with twitching ears. Black bears can weigh up to 600 pounds, have sharp claws, and can climb trees. Generally, they are just curious, but, if they attack, then they are trying to kill you. People in Alaska have to prepare in case they see bears by having bear repellent and by wearing bells or talking so the bears aren’t startled. This bear was walking on the hill towards us and it felt like the bear was looking directly at me!
My heart started to beat fast. I felt frightened and started to sweat bullets, but I acted calm. I knew if I ran around, screamed or yelled that the bear might go after us. My mother grabbed my arm and we walked slowly back to the path even though I felt like running.
As we walked home, we warned everyone who was going up the trail that there was a bear. They thanked us for letting them know and were cautious as they continued on their way. When we reached home, we went into the garage, closed the door, and stayed there for a little bit taking a ton of deep breaths before going inside. I had been panting the whole way home, but the deep breaths helped me to calm down.
From that experience, there were some very helpful things that I learned to do. I learned to do “warrior breathing” which is taking deep breaths and letting them out calmly. It helps me to think better and helps my heart slow down. I learned to walk slowly around bears, and I learned about how to act around bears before heading outside. Some people think that courage means going up and facing a problem even when you’re scared, but that’s not always true. Sometimes it’s courageous to face a dangerous or scary situation by using wisdom like calmly walking away from the bear even though I felt like running and screaming.