What does courage mean to you? Perhaps you think of someone facing serious illness or death with grace and acceptance. Or a public example like Malala perhaps, the Pakistani activist for female education. Or school girl Greta Thunberg, the Swedish climate activist who recently addressed the United Nations
This month sees the 30th anniversary of the protests and massacre in Tiananmen square. This was the culmination of weeks of protests for democratic reform by over a million Chinese students and workers. The protest came to be symbolised by the astonishing act of courage of one man standing in front of Chinese military tanks.
Perhaps in your life you will be called to make a similar very public and life defining courageous stand for something you believe in.
But it might be as you are reading these examples of having courage you are thinking:
I could never do that. I don’t have courage like that.
And you know what – that’s OK.
Because courage has many forms of expression.
Few of us will ever be called to such an extraordinarily courageous act. But we can each show courage each day in different ways. And all of them model the importance of courage to the next generation.
Courage is the ability to do something that frightens us or that we find daunting.
I think of a friend who many years ago started to give blood, despite being seriously phobic. He did this as a response to my plea for blood donors in thanks for blood donations that saved my mum’s life. And he has continued to display courage faithfully in the multiple subsequent blood donations he has given.
I think of the teenager who stands up to those who are making their life miserable and says no, I am not prepared to be treated like this.
Someone who stands against the tide of public opinion or the popular view and says no, this is not how it should be.
Courage requires us to show strength in the face of grief or pain.
Being courageous is sometimes about sticking with people or situations that we would otherwise choose to leave.
Standing with a loved one in the midst of their struggles despite the cost. Not giving up in the face of adversity but keeping-on keeping-on, day in and day out in a situation that seems insurmountable because it is the right thing to do.
This of course links back very closely to what I was musing about persevering and showing resilience. To not give up in the face of opposition, or oppression or obstruction or objection or a lack of optimism or opportunity. We chose to show courage and we keep going.
Courage takes wisdom, as well as perseverance and bravery. We need to be wise in knowing when to act and when to be restrained, when to speak and when to stay silent.
Ask yourself – what would the best outcome be here?
This clears away the emotions and muddied motives and enables us to see instead the bigger picture of who else is invested here and what is most important.
And for me, one of the simplest […not necessarily easiest…] and most powerful ways to show courage is to ENcourage. To encourage has courage at the centre. It is easy to stay silent when we know we could speak out. It is easy to say nothing when we fear a backlash but we know that offering words of love and honest kindness would bring hope.
Sometimes we have to overcome our natural inhibitions or fears to tell someone we love them, or that they are beautiful, or that they are persevering with grace and integrity despite the hardship of their circumstance. We show courage in speaking up and offering specific words to restore and bring hope.
Who is around you just now who is needing a courage boost? Who can you seek out to tell them how much they mean to you? Where can you speak up for someone who might have lost their voice?
This week, choose one way to show courage by choosing to encourage.