What's the bravest thing you've ever done?

Bringing another human being into this scary old world...brave...YES! crazy...YES!

Admitting to myself and others that I am a lesbian, coming out to my immediate family, and moving in with the
woman I love. Very scary, but it's been so worth it! That was six years ago and I'm happier than ever!

This survey has been done before (only the word used was "courageous").

What would an anonymous commenter know of courage?

I am a coward.

Taken on my current family by marrying my husband. In-laws, ex-wife, stepkids, financial challenges, and all.

i shaved my armpits once...

i would hafta agree jen, that is brave...even admitting to yourself...it's such a huge step...it was really scary for me...i was afraid no one would understand

The movie, "Defending Your Life" by Albert Brooks is one of my favorites on this topic. In the movie, only the brave go to heaven.

When I was 12 I jumped into the pool and saved the 3 year girl I was babysitting. Ummm, I lost that job.

I don't think I've done something that could be called brave.

Some called it brave when I took myself out of college and signed into a psychiatric hospital to save myself from me. Others say I'm brave because I left home a year later, at age 19, to save myself from my parents. I don't know if those are examples of bravery or "taking the easy way out." Six years later, I still can't decide. (Sorry about being anon - people from my work visit this site and don't know about my history.)

Telling the man I love that I am in love with him - on what could be considered, by some methods of counting, our second date, with no idea what he was feeling or how it would be received. Well, he asked.

I'd just like to say that I think the previous use of anonymous commenting was entirely reasonable and a good use of the feature.

...and that's why I'll never remove the anonymous feature.

Reserved harsh commentary when someone who submitted an vague essay question richly deserved it. (The bravery came in risking an ulcer over it)

Has there ever been an essay question that is 50%+ approval? BTW I generally like them, but if the majority doesn't then should it be an option for a survey type?

There have been 16 essay surveys with ratings > 50%. Here they are:

54.3% - Where would you go for your dream vacation?
51.0% - If you had to name a child, what would you name it?
53.2% - When you were little, "What did you want to be when you grew up?"
56.2% - What book(s) are you reading right now? Would you recommend them to others?
51.1% - What advice, tips, and/or recommendations would you give to someone who is about to create a new survey?
51.2% - My most useless skill...
56.0% - If you could invite any 5 people to dinner, who would they be?
52.2% - If you were granted one round trip in a time machine, where/when would you go?
51.1% - Besides your Survey Central handle, what other nicknames or handles do you go by?
52.5% - Do you feel you have found your purpose in life? If so, what is it?
54.1% - Other than Survey Central, what is the first site you visit when you get on the Internet that is not work related? What is so special about that site?
51.1% - What is your greatest talent? Don't be modest.
51.0% - What is a gene?
52.9% - Who is the most famous person you have ever met?
51.1% - Where were you when you heard Princess Diana had been killed? How did you feel ?
53.1% - Which Songs Do You Find Most Moving?

There have been 122 essay surveys with ratings < 50%. Plus 2 with a rating of exactly 50%. 140 altogether.
The average rating for an essay survey is: 42.1%

bill...you act like you run this site or something :)

I can't recall that I've done much that I think of as brave, in an objective sense. Other people might be better judges. From a subjective point of view, I guess I'd say hitting the class bully back when she hit me when I was in the 5th grade. Not that it had much effect.

I've done lots of things which were ill-considered, but since I survived them appear brave in retrospect. Other things, which I knew forthright had grave risks but I did them anyway, might be considered brave, but I was usually terrified when doing them.

The reason I came back to the question is that I was recently cleaning out my desk and found a copy of my first business card. It was pretty crude graphic design in my current opinion, and my first thought looking at it was to wince and think about what hubris I had. But then I got to thinking: there I was, right out of college, with a high-paying job in the field for which I had trained. But I decided that I wanted to be doing something else, and quit, printed up business cards, and started free-lancing. I made a go of it, relinquishing the security of a job, and the security of knowing 'what I wanted to be.' Now I look at that card and think "man, I was brave!"

I broke it off with someone who didn't deserve me. But only with a lot of help from my friends.

Spoken up.

Bravest, suggests to me one puts one's own life on the line for someone else..............................................michael

Nothing. I don't think I'm particularly brave.