C Is For Courage

I read a quote the other day and it seems to fit perfectly into the message for today.

"Courage isn't just a matter of of not being frightened, you know.  It's being afraid and doing what you have to do anyway."

This quote comes from an episode of the Classic Doctor Who series from the 1960s, when Jon Pertwee was portraying the Doctor.  But that doesn't really mean anything.

The reason that I'm placing it into the blog today is discuss Independence Day.  Yes, America declared it's independence from Britain and there was a war and we won, but you don't have to go to war in order to have courage.  In fact, you can simply be living your daily life and have loads more courage than some people in the military or police or fire department.  That's definitely not to say that those people have less courage.  I applaud and I thank each and every military member, as well as police and fire fighters because they do tireless work and don't get enough appreciation.

Courage is not something that is learned, it is something that is inherent in all of us.  Sure, if you train in the military you can "learn" to be courageous at the right time, but it's your ability to pull that courage out of the depths of your soul when you need it the most that is simply not a classroom subject.

Everyone has courage in them, it's all a matter of how they use it.  Courage can be needed when standing up to someone that is doing you wrong, whether physically, mentally or emotionally.  Courage can be used when deciding on which career path to take or what college to go to.  Courage can also be required when simply taking a risk and attempting to submit your writing for publication.

Granted, courage in all its forms is not the same, but neither is one person to the next going to be the same and therefore require the same amount of courage as the previous person.  But we all need courage at some point in our lives and we all have it.  It's just a matter of using it.

Happy Fourth of July.


Until next time.