Learn about moral courage

What comes to mind when you hear the word “courage”?

Do you think of firefighters saving people trapped in burning buildings?

Melinda has been going to school with Jade since kindergarten. They have never been close friends but Jade has always been nice to Melinda when they’ve had to work together in class.

One day, Melinda overhears her best friend Kate telling some of her classmates that Jade’s family is so poor that they have to wash their clothes in the bathtub. Melinda knows that Jade’s family doesn’t have a lot of money but she also knows they wash their clothes at the same Laundromat that her family uses.

Should Melinda stand up to her friend and try and stop the rumor from spreading? Or should she keep quiet so she can keep her best friend? What would you do?

Moral courage means doing what’s right, even if it means losing a friend. It means seeking out the truth and sharing that truth with others. If you’ve ever felt that squirmy feeling in your gut when you see someone getting bullied or teased, that’s your inner voice telling you to be morally courageous and speak up!

Melinda decided staying true to herself was more important than protecting her friendship with Kate. After all, if they’re true friends, she should be able to tell Kate anything, right? So she asked Kate to stop spreading those rumors about Jade because she knows they aren’t true. Kate wasn’t very happy about it at first, but because her friendship with Melinda was so important to her, she agreed to stop spreading rumors about Jade.