Water Cooler Chat With A Conscience

Friday, December 14, 2007

26 Letters - But Only 1 Matters

26 letters comprise the english alphabet. Out of all of them, only one matters to me. C. C is the first letter in a slew of powerful words.

Christ. Child. Children. Commitment. Coexistence. Cohabitaion. Courage. College. Can't. Control.

One of these words is my personal favorite b/c without it, none of the others would be possible. That word is COURAGE. 7 letters. 2 syllables. From the Latin word "cor", meaning "heart", which remains a common metaphor for inner strength.* A noun: a quality of spirit that enables you to face danger or pain without showing fear. Hence - COURAGE is my favorite word. "C" is my favorite letter.

You need courage for just about every voluntary thing you do in this life. You need courage to profess with your mouth that you follow a certain religion. Courage is needed to live your life in the way that is best for you. Courage allows parents to stand by children that may have done the unthinkable - and support them no matter what. Courage is absolutely mandatory to be able to stand up for what's right, especially when the rest of the crowd is screaming that you are wrong. Without courage, the abused and battered wife and mother is not able to say "I can't live this life with my children anymore. I am taking control back. I'm leaving." . Every person that has ever made a difference in this world, whether it be a difference for the better, or a difference for the worse - has needed courage. Courage is what allows us to do and be who we are. Courage. Courage. Meditate on it. COURAGE.

There is one other thing that courage is an absolute MUST for. I purposely close out with this thought b/c for me, it is the one thing that takes the most courage.

love.

It takes an immense amount of courage to love. To love yourself, to love others - it takes courage. When you summons up the courage to open your heart, spirit and soul to another...to give someone else permission to stroll through your mentality, pick it apart, and then put it back together - all in the name of love and understanding...to allow someone into the hallows of your past - the pretty and the not so pretty....when you summons up the courage to do all of the aforementioned, and lay your heart at someone's feet (or even at your own), you are allowing yourself to be incredibly vulnerable, with faith that while your heart is at their feet, they will tread lightly - or even tiptoe. You are saying "I trust you to use care with my spirit...to use care with my soul...to use care with my heart....to not hurt me purposely....to give the same to me that I am giving to you". That, my friends, takes much more faith than a mustard seed...and the reward is much greater than a red badge. The reward is courage. The reward is love. And that is precisely what love is - courage.

*courage. (n.d.). Online Etymology Dictionary. Retrieved December 14, 2007, from Dictionary.com website: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/courage

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow! You have a great way with words, I am going to be checking this blog out a lot, keep posting, great job :)

Unknown said...

wow..you do wrire well!

Anonymous said...

Lovely post. And you are absolutely correct about C. We are on the same page. :)

Stopping by from SITS.