COURAGE

I am tired.

I am tired of writing posts that promote “how to do this” or “how to do that”.

I am tired of trying to grab people’s attention by giving them tips on how they can become more productive.

If this challenging time has taught me anything, it’s to take a step back for a moment and write about what I feel is truly important.

To write about a subject that is not as eye catching, not as sexy – but is of far greater consequence.

And it is the principle of Courage.

It is just one word – but it is a powerful word. It has the power to give a young woman the strength and resolve to refuse to give up her seat and sit at the back of the bus because the color of her skin, and it is what gets the doctors, nurses, and healthcare workers that stand on the frontlines of our current global struggle to leave their families every morning, and selflessly put their lives in harms way so others may live.

Courage is the foundation upon which our country was built and the rallying cry around which generations of our ancestors persevered.

Our grandparents had it in droves. From a world war to a cold war - it is their courage that helped them endure these long periods of struggle, uncertainty, and pain of a magnitude which we cannot even begin to fathom.

I think of my grandfather Robert, who at the tender age of 18 was fighting for what he believed to be right from the hot sands of Africa to the bloody fields of Western Europe.

And my grandmother Brenda, who while in the British land army – endured severe rationing, back breaking labor, and unfathomable uncertainty… while doing her part to defend her tiny island nation against the encroaching German war machine.

In fact it was the esteemed British wartime prime minister Winston Churchill who so eloquently said “ Courage is rightly esteemed the first of human qualities because it is the quality that guarantees all others”… and it is that courage that we all need to muster in ourselves now in our time of great challenge.

Today we find ourselves in a fight. Not one where we are fighting an ideological enemy that is threatening to enslave us, but rather an invisible enemy that is threatening our most vulnerable citizens and may - depending our collective actions … destroy our very way of life.

We are fighting to save fellow Americans…not only the immuno-compromised… but many whom fought and sacrificed for us during those dark days of the 2nd world war more than half a century ago, whose sacrifices secured for us the very freedoms we have today.

Times are tough. They will be tough for a very long time. Things will never be the same. But that is how life is supposed to be, has always been, and always will be.

Those of us alive now have been fortunate to have lived lives of relative stability, predictability, and peace. Having been spared much of the great life upheavals that crisscross the landscape of history - events like the 1st and 2nd world war, the Spanish flu, and the great depression.

Now our great challenge is upon us, and the question is how will we respond to it. Let it be with courage.

We must bring forth to the forefront of our daily actions, the ideals and principles that we so idolize in our heroes and muster them in ourselves.

We must have the…

Courage to stop letting fear and fear-mongers cloud our judgement.

Courage to put people before profits.

Courage to do what is right and act sensibly.

Let this be our defining moment. Each of us in our actions determines how our story unfolds.

Will the flame of our way of life be extinguished on our watch, or will it burn even brighter because we were all courageous and because we put our principles front and center – and let ourselves be guided by them.

A hundred years from now when historians look back on this period of our peoples history – let them echo the words of Churchill and say “this was their finest hour”.