Of Bravery and Courage

We've All Been There ...

Of Bravery and Courage
We’ve All Been There ...

In my browsing of posts this morning I came across the word, ‘Bravery’. Interesting. Like most people, I thought I knew what bravery meant, but here’s what I read:

“Contrary to popular belief, bravery isn't the absence of fear, it’s taking action anyway on something you believe in, in spite of feeling fear.

Bravery and courage go hand in hand. Being brave is to have courage and courage is the ability to do something that frightens us.”

The actions don’t even need to be huge to be counted as being brave. With that in mind, I could think of any number of brave situations I, or someone in my family faced. Some could even be classified as ‘courageous’.

There are all kinds of courage. One that’s personal to me and obvious is the courageous act performed over and over by a combat medic during battle when his company is under attack. Personal safety and fear are cast aside whenever a voice cries out: “Medic!”

Random acts of courage can be small, everyday actions that require bravery, even if they don't involve personal danger: admitting you were wrong, or speaking out against injustice. They can also embrace a necessary but difficult change, overcome adversity, or help with having a difficult conversation.

I remember a time involving my mother. Mama, my sister, and I were waiting in what seemed like a mile-long line for over an hour to see one of the Godfather movies. From out of nowhere, a Jolly Green Giant of a guy, probably a college student, and his two buddies cut in line right in front of us.

Mama, was appalled. All 5 foot 99 pounds of her soaking wet marched right up to the tallest, poked her finger into his chest and sternly told him in no uncertain terms that the line formed in the rear and to take his friends and go there --immediately. Embarrassed and apologetic, he and his two friends left.

Oh! I just thought of another story, this one involved me. When I was married and living in New Hampshire, we lived on a hill with two acres of heavily wooded land surrounding us.

A developer bought land adjoining ours on the backside of our property. It was his intent to build five houses around a cul de sac in back and to the right of our property. An access road would wind around behind our property and then over to form the cul de sac.

With the height of our hill, he petitioned the planning board and was granted a Right of Way assessment to cut into the bottom of our hill to place his road.

On the day the heavy equipment arrived to do the cut, the bulldozer operator came to our door to advise us to keep pets inside. Also, as part of the Right of Way, there were a few trees that would have to come down as well. Those were tied with pink plastic ties so we would know which ones.

Since I wrote about this here last year, I will only say that I went out to check an hour later and noted the bulldozer was already above the right of way allowed and about to take even more. I ran back in the house and in spite of my apprehension, I grabbed a rifle and told the driver to stop.

He told me the developer said to keep going. He needed more land than he was granted because his road would cost too much unless he got closer to our hill. I asked the driver to call his boss and give me the phone. I told the developer, that wasn’t what was agreed on and he said, “Lady, I will do what I have to do.”

I told him, “I have a rifle and I will do what I have to do. Any changes WILL come from the Planning Board. You’ve already violated what they granted.”

The short answer is, the Planning Board halted his project until they could hold a special meeting two weeks later. They agreed. The developer was ordered to put his road where it was originally approved, or give up the entire project and be taken to court.

Now that my mind is in that mode, I can think of at least twenty more situations and that’s only in my immediate family, including my partner, Robert.

Let’s do a couple more …

A few minutes ago, I took our 10-pound Chihuahua, Ree-Ree, out for a potty break. While we were outside, a man walked by with a 30-35 pound mid-size Schnauzer on a leash --he had a very nasty disposition. When he saw Ree-Ree, he snarled, showed his teeth, and pulled at his leash, determined to tear Ree-Ree a new one.

Ree-Ree was fine, until the Schnauzer turned nasty. She wasn’t having any of that. She went from zero to bitch in ten seconds and raced to the end of her leash baring her teeth with a ferocious set of snarls. Damned if it didn’t shut down the Schnauzer right now. He yiped, turned, and with his hind end lowered nearly to the ground, he sped his owner in the other direction.

This next story is something I remember reading over at Quora. It tugged at my heartstrings. I want to share it here:

“When Franceska Mann, a Jewish ballerina, arrived at Auschwitz in 1943, she was ordered to undress and change into a prisoner's uniform. Instead of obeying quietly, she undressed in a provocative way that distracted the guards.

She then grabbed a guard's pistol and shot and killed him. Before she was shot and killed, she also managed to injure a second guard.

After her attack, another Jewish woman nearby saw an opportunity and convinced a few other women to fight back. Before they were all killed, they managed to scalp one Nazi soldier and tear off the nose of another.”

I’m sure if I asked Robert, the rest of my family, and even total strangers, they would all have stories to share. It’s easy to see, bravery and courage don’t have to be huge, life threatening events to cause people —and 10-pound Chihuahuas, to take action.

All of us have a touch of Superman, Superwoman, and Krypto the Superdog down inside …

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