My Christmas Blessing #6

This past year my newest Christmas blessing is courage!  I understand the dangers, I feel the fear, and I find the courage to do the right thing.  Strength and wisdom combine as I ward off temptation and act according to my values.  Of course, the definitions of courage are overcoming fear, grace under pressure (Ernest Hemingway wrote of this), choosing self-respect, wise endurance, uncomplaining acceptance of unendurable conditions (I believer Eisenhower wrote of this), doing right despite the fright, and most importantly, value-based action despite temptation.

A courageous person understands danger and chooses to overcome their fear and proceed to face danger and act according to their values.  It is not fearlessness, recklessness, rage, rashness, or being cruel when angered.  It is a well-considered, wise, and brave decision to behave constructively despite the fear, discomfort, or temptation.  This is a wonderful attribute I have learned this past year; don't be angered, make the decision to be wise and respectful, and know that what goes around comes around and I do not want it to be negative.   Courage is a strength drawn from a wise balance between the weaknesses of cowardice and recklessness.  It is the discipline to act on wisely-chosen values rather than impulse.

Bullies and brutes exploit a substantial power advantage to cruelly harass or attack weaker victims.  Because of the power differential, they have nothing to fear; they are demonstrating cowardliness rather than courage.  Bluffs are more subtle.  For a threat to be effective, the threatened person has to believe the person making the threat has the ability and courage to carry out the threat.  Credibility of threat may be the best measure of perceived courage.

Courage does not tolerate whining.  Criticize if you must, but never whine.  Whiners are playing the victim and acting like they have no choices, no responsibility, and certainly no courage.  I am grateful for not being one who whines .. This is a blessing!

Robert Kennedy once said, "This world demands the quality of youth; not a time of life but a state of mind, a temper of the will, a quality of the imagination, a predominance of courage over timidity, of the appetite for adventure over a life of ease."

How grateful I am for the blessing of courage and adventure because ..

I ride the dark horse ..

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