Examples Of Being Bold In The Odyssey

Riding a roller coaster, downhill skiing, riding in a plane, going in a submarine, all of these things have one thing in common, taking bold risks. Dictionary.com defined boldness as “necessitating courage and daring; challenging” ("Bold"). I think this definition is good but it could use more help capture what being bold is really all about. To me, being bold is about putting yourself out there and not worrying about what other people may think of you. It’s about taking risks that you normally wouldn’t take or powering through the tough situations without losing yourself or hurting others. An example of this would be Odysseus from the epic poem The Odyssey. Odysseus had to face multiple trials in the story and took a bunch of risks to get

through them. He had to choose between two paths that had huge monsters and giant whirlpools and a pathway where rocks would surely wreck his ship (Homer 660-843). Each risk that he took he had to think of the consequences of what would happen to him and his men.

Being bold is about taking risks and doing something that is normally out of your comfort zone.

Sometimes people confuse boldness with being fearless, but to be fearless is when a person lacks in fear of the consequences of their actions. For example, if someone were to have anxiety or a fear of heights, then riding a three-hundred foot roller coaster would be taking a risk that they normally wouldn’t take. Being fearless would be more like an electrician climbing to the top of a cellphone tower to fix it. The only thing that holds the electrician is a rope and the ladder that they climb on. Taking a bold risk is something you were afraid to do, but voluntarily did it knowing you would be secure or safe. Being fearless is when you do something and not having the foresight of what the consequences will

be.

A personal example of someone taking a bold risk in my life is my older brother. My older brother has severe anxiety and was dependent on my parents to clothe, feed, and take care of him. Over the summer he graduated from high school and then shortly after he moved out of the house. He had to get over his anxiety and move out to become an independent person. He has to shop for himself, pay his own bills, and take care of his girlfriend and cat. When he did move into his apartment and started his independent life he did so without knowing what would happen and how he would be able to take care of himself. He now knows he is capable of taking care of himself because of the risk he took.

By taking risks people grow and become stronger, a great example of this is Chris Colfer. Chris Colfer is a strong individual and has been through situations in his life that he came out a stronger person. He has gone through being bullied in school and having criticisms of the media. Michael Schulman, from The New York Times, stated “Things got worse -- as they often do -- in middle school. Mr. Colfer transformed from a skinny sixth grader into a pudgy seventh grader whose voice hadn't dropped. (It still hasn't, essentially.) Bullies vandalized his locker and defaced his gym clothes. He kept his travails mostly hidden. ‘I always assumed that my parents were busy with my sister,’ he said. ‘They didn't need any woes from me. So I never told them. I've still never told them the extent of what I experienced.’ (Schulman). Chris Colfer then took the risk of sharing his story with the entire world about how he was bullied and the other struggles in his life and how becoming an iconic figure for little kids has him leading a pretty stressful life (Jones). He didn’t tell his parents about the problems he was having in school, but told his grandma who told his parents. Oliver Jones, from The Daily Beast, wrote “He was the subject of Kurt Hummel-level bullying in middle-school; it got so bad for the diminutive Colfer that his parents eventually had to homeschool him. ‘I was very tiny,’ he joked at the New Yorker Festival in 2011. ‘I spent most of my time stuffed into lockers. Thank god for cell phones, or I'd still be in there.’” (Jones). He took a huge risk of being judged for coming out about being gay in school and to be able to go back to school and taking that risk to be bullied even more is just inspirational.

Being bold is about taking risks you normally would never take.

It’s about trusting yourself that you are gonna come out of the situation stronger and a better person for taking the risk. It’s about facing your fears, knowing that you will come out unharmed and secure. You don’t even need to take huge risks that might get you killed. It isn’t about being able to be a big daredevil it can be little things like riding in a plane or riding on a roller coaster. Any person can be bold if they are brave enough to do so. Taking bold choices and risks is a part of life and a part of growing up. By taking these risks we grow as better people and learn from the risks we have taken and that’s the best thing to be able to

do.