Being Bold

Courage Comes in All Colors

“Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen.”
Winston Churchill

I went to see the movie Red Tails last weekend. It is about the Tuskegee Airmen, the first African American aviators to fly in World War II. The men were incredibly bold in that they flew flimsy little planes straight into the teeth of Germany’s superior fire power. They proved themselves by their courage and steadfastness both to America and to each other. I am certain that our military men and women today are doing the same thing in Afghanistan and in other hot-spots around the world. That is the form of courage that we most recognize and respect, but there are others.

I think of ordinary people who go to work every single day and do feats of supreme courage—like construction workers who hang off the sides of sky scrapers to seal windows, and doctors who cut open human hearts to repair the valves, and firemen who suit up and run into burning buildings to save lives. I think of teachers who walk into their classrooms everyday to teach our children, sometimes for little pay and under extreme stress. I think of entrepreneurs who have the courage to take an idea and work their hearts out to make it a reality that benefits us all.

And then there is the courage that comes from patience, even at times, from inaction: the courage to sit across the table from an adversary, or a rival, and negotiate a win-win solution; or to keep searching for the best possible outcome until it is found. In these days of instant gratification, we don’t see enough of this kind of courage. Winston Churchill said, “Success is not final; failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.”

It takes courage and boldness to tackle our complex world on almost any level. We revere physical courage; extol it in our films and books (think Hunger Games). It would be good if we could recognize that sometimes moral courage is stronger and far more likely to change the world for the better.

In the spirit,
Jane