This is an essay by Maggie Stevens entitled Courage.
November brings thoughts of courage to mind,
And they're often rightly focused on veterans.
Some vets are the old bent men we encounter in the store.
Once they were young and full of life and dreams.
They went to fight in places whose names they'd never heard of.
In Normandy,
Many rest beneath endless rows of white crosses.
We don't always consider the courage it took for them to put the horrors of war behind them.
They picked up their lives,
Their jobs,
And their children.
Then they tried to balance their nightmares with their present and future.
That took courage.
We recognize first responders,
Firefighters,
EMTs,
Police,
Nurses,
And doctors as courageous.
Choosing to enter buildings,
Accidents,
And hospital rooms that the rest of us flee.
They choose to put others' safety and well-being before their own.
And we call that courage.
There are many hues of courage.
Some we identify easily,
And many hide in plain sight.
We may see our neighbor walking his dog and think,
All is well.
What we don't see is that half his heart is missing since his wife died.
He gets up every morning and makes their bed.
He sits alone at their table for every meal.
That takes courage.
We might totally miss the young woman ahead of us in the checkout line.
She's worried that the groceries might not last the week.
Her kids are growing and are always ravenous.
She considers working overtime,
But doesn't want to leave them home alone.
They're too young.
After their dad left,
Life became so much harder.
She straightens and reminds herself she has to make it work.
Her children look to her to make their world okay.
And she will.
That is courage.
We honk our horns at the driver who doesn't go when the light turns green.
We don't know that his depression is so heavy that he feels like he's slogging through jello.
We don't know the therapists and medications he's tried in an effort to feel normal.
He opens his eyes to the dread of a new day and then gets up and heads out into the world.
That is courage.
Every day,
Women and men wake up and go out into the world to face the anger and hate of those who do not know them,
Yet reject them for the color of their skin,
Sexual orientation,
Religion,
Or some other concept that shouldn't define them.
Their daily struggles are mostly unnoticed.
Their courage is to live a life true to who they are.
That is courage.
Courage is often a trait we give to our heroes,
But there's also an everyday courage.
Maya Angelou said,
Courage is the most important of all virtues,
Because without courage,
You can't practice any other virtue consistently.
You can practice any virtue erratically,
But nothing consistently without courage.
Each time we step out of our cocooned life to help a neighbor,
A family member,
A stranger,
An animal,
Or our community,
We are courageous.
When we speak up for one another,
When we act in an ethical manner instead of following the crowd,
When we listen to our conscience,
When we get out of bed in the morning,
Courageous.
This everyday courage is often overlooked for grander accomplishments.
Mary Ann Redmacher reminds us,
Courage does not always roar.
Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying,
I will try again tomorrow.
You,
My friend,
Are courageous.
I appreciate that you took your time to listen to this essay.
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Com And thanks again for listening.
