Courage – the act of facing your fears.

As Eleanor Roosevelt put it, “You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You must do the thing which you think you cannot do.”

This photo, Take Courage by Kamal H, talks to me about the kind of courage that has nothing to do with the storybook tales of fantastic battles and knights in shining armor. Although courage is often displayed in times of crisis, in war, and in tragedy, sometimes we can display courage through our everyday actions.

Social courage, the act of standing up for what is right in spite of popular opinion, takes great fortitude. This is what Martha Parks did when she refused to give in to racism. She stood up against popular opinion, not worrying about the personal costs. But often, this one act of courage that we see, is really just the cumulation of a series of small, deliberate steps. I suspect that there is much more to Martha Parks than that single act. I suspect she lived a life of small acts of courage, that strengthened her and prepared her for that great revolutionary act.

So, what can you and I do, today, to “take courage” ?

What one small act will demonstrate courage?

What fear can we overcome, at least in part?

What is the right thing to do? Are we doing it?