Global Q&A: ‘What’s the bravest thing you’ve ever done?’

Being brave is in our everyday living from choosing to face a meaningful life experience to living through life and death situations. This is what Epoch Times reporters from Pakistan to Sweden found when they asked locals:

Islamabad, Pakistan
Shumaila Zeb, 28, University ProfessorThe thing that comes to my mind is how all women have to be very brave if they are to be successful in their field of work. For a female who goes to work, there is a constant bombardment of sexual innuendoes and harassment from males in the workplace and society. It takes a lot of energy and effort to keep oneself composed and ignore the staring and verbal comments. I have encountered harassment when walking in the street in broad daylight. I am lucky now that the place I work is very good, and I do not face these things most of the time.

Sunshine Coast, Australia
Neil Robinson, 63, Semi-Retired School Teacher

The bravest thing I ever did, but it was very instinctive—we were in Canada decades ago and my 4-year-old daughter was being charged by an elk, a huge bull, an elk with huge antlers. I had no choice, I thought I was dead, but thought I would try to save my daughter. I ran back in front of the elk, and the elk was just like 20 meters away from my daughter, charging. And I ran back and grabbed my daughter and ran back and got in the car. But we were lucky enough to come across an elk that was happy enough just to chase us away and follow us about a meter all the way back to the car. But it was instinctive, not brave. It was what came naturally.

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Joao Sodre, 22, Law Student

The bravest thing I have done was founding, together with a classmate, an anti-discrimination movement at law school, despite the fact that we were young and inexperienced students and had no supporters at the time. Nowadays, I am almost graduating and I am glad that due to such braveness, the movement has turned into a research group that receives federal aid and, under the tutelage of professors, provides free legal support to those who suffer discrimination, but cannot afford a lawyer.

Lima, Peru
Ana Alancastre, 68, Veterinarian

The bravest thing I ever did was when I had to face the process of going through three surgeries. I was in England, alone and without family or friends to give me support in those difficult times. After one of the operations, I suffered from shock; I felt that I was dying. Having the character to grow through the tests, it helped me overcome a lot, and know a lot of adversity with faith in God, and on the other hand, these situations helped me pass all with courage.

San Roque, Canary Islands, Spain
Juna Luis Gonzalez Gonzalez, 66, Retired Kitchener

I am a survivor of two shipwrecks, the name of the ships being Holy Monday and Holy Thursday, whose owner was the same company. In both cases, when the captain gave the order, “Leave the boat!” I was the first one to have the courage to step down to the compartments and take our main personal belongings before jumping to the rescue boat.

Cartagena, Colombia
Freddy Jose Contreras Fernandez, 27, International Relations

One of the bravest things that I am very proud of is helping a friend to stop taking drugs of different types. He had the willpower to tell his parents. I received a phone call from my friend’s mother to help. I made the decision to tell my group of friends. … We involved him in the activities we were doing, like going to the movies, the beach, talking of our future plans, and many other healthy activities. This happened about four years ago; currently, my friend is studying at university. He plays sports and has a better relationship with his family.

Coney Island, Brooklyn, New York, U.S.A.
Becky Brook, 17, Student

I used to be really afraid of roller coasters. I decided I’m just going to do this, I’m going to get over my fear and I went on the Superman at Six Flags. [Amusement Park]

Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
Martin Krelle, 41, Production Manager

Leaving the U.K., and leaving my family and moving to Abu Dhabi. I’ve been in the U.K. in the same job for many years and just decided now that the children are now grown up and now it’s time for us to go and explore.

Dobrich, Bulgaria
Mariana Pehlivanova, 56, Ornithologist

The bravest thing I have done in my life is to take up the job of ornithologist five years ago. Ornithologists are the people who study birds. Before that I was working as a relics restorer. My new job is so amazing and challenging. Before, all birds seemed all the same to me; for example, there are thousands of kinds of skylarks and each one of them has some special feature. Once, a big flock of storks came around; one had short legs and a short beak. It didn’t look like a stork at all! It was a small eagle that joined the stork flock and was flying together with them.

Ormaryd, Sweden
Noa Ahlqvist, 26, Painter

It was probably in fifth grade when I stood up to some bullies who were harassing a new classmate. I remember that I worked hard on it. In the end, I managed to get them to stop bullying her.

Look for the Global Q&A column every week. Epoch Times correspondents interview people around the world to learn about their lives and perspectives on local and global realities. Next week’s global question: “What do you think we can learn from space exploration?”