My second day at ETSU I had an encounter with bravery and how a little thing can cause a lot. I guess you could say this whole experience began with my ACT scores. I had done better than I had expected, except in math. In fact, my algebra scores qualified me for Elementary Algebra.Fast forward a few months. I sit, tired, in my Elementary Algebra class. Tired from walking the four flights of stairs in Rogers-Stout Hall.

For the third time in a row, I knew no one in the class.

Our teacher bounced into class, obviously exhausted from the very same walk I had just taken up the stairs.

She did what most teachers do on the first day. Handed out the syllabus, told us her rules and introduced herself.

Now my fear of this class stems from a lack of self-confidence. I am mostly an over-confident person. I will say anything or talk to anyone, but when it comes to math, I feel like an idiot. I don’t know anything about math. It’s always been my personal philosophy that numbers and letters should not play together, but that’s just me.

Unfortunately, math is a requirement so there I sat in that class. Alone. Tired. Scared.

After the instructor finished her introduction of the class, we were told that if we could pass a 10-question test she had, we could move out of Elementary Algebra and into Intermediate Algebra.

Everyone in the class was given the test. Ten questions. We only had to get seven of them correct.

How hard could it be?

I took out a pen and glanced over the test.

Hell, there were more letters on the thing than numbers and that scared me.

So I sat and stared. And stared. And stared. And stared. And stared.

I looked at the graphs, the fractions, the numbers, the symbols and became completely overwhelmed. I was definitely not going to be able to pass this.

I looked around at my classmates. Most were doing the same thing. Staring .

Now keep in mind, the teacher had told us that if the test seemed to hard, we should merely put our name on it, leave the rest blank, turn it in and leave.

To me it seemed that everyone was struggling with the test on some level, but I wondered if most were afraid to be the first to say so.

I sat for maybe two minutes, watching the others, waiting for the first one to stand and admit defeat. I waited and no one stood.

So I took the plunge. I stood and walked to teacher, turned in the test blank, and left.

As I was walking out I looked back and saw that most of the class had stood up, turned in their tests blank and left.

Bravery is what you make it.

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