Carlos and Brandon – The Character Network

When Carlos was very young, he wanted to be a cowboy. Not just to ride horses and wear a big hat. He wanted to be like some of the cowboys in the old movies, strong, fast, and hard working but mostly honest and full of integrity. The role models he had in the movies didn’t have a lot of money. They didn’t have a lot of fancy things, but they had friendship. They had honor. And a man’s word was as good as gold. That’s what Carlos wanted to be like.

But Carlos was just a small boy. And furthermore, he was the new kid at a new school in a city far away from the town he knew as home. There was another boy in the class, and everybody was afraid of him. He was mean, and he didn’t make very good grades. It wasn’t because he wasn’t as smart as everyone else. He just let his meanness get in the way of learning. So he became jealous of the other kids who did make good grades, and that just made him angrier.

One day, when Mrs. Wilson, the teacher was out of the room, the boy got upset and turned over a bookshelf in the classroom. When the teacher came back and saw the scattered books, the boy who had turned over the shelf was the first to speak up. He said that Carlos had done it, and everyone else was too afraid to say otherwise.

But just as Carlos was about to be taken to the principal’s office, Brandon who was even smaller than Carlos gave Mrs. Wilson a note that said who really turned over the shelf. Brandon was just as afraid as everyone else, but he found a way to quietly tell the truth so Carlos would not get in trouble for something he didn’t do.

Since Carlos was new at the school, Brandon didn’t know him very well at all, but he stood up for what was right, and that certainly made Brandon a HERO.

– Jim Lord