COURAGE

“I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it.”

Nelson Mandela

Fear arrived first. Snippets of information, delivered to my eyes and ears, warning of an impending “novel virus.” Novel, as an adjective: “different from anything seen or known before.”

My heart, gripped by the possibility of danger, sent smoke signals to my brain, fogging all my senses. I felt I was treading water, bobbing up and down among the white-capped waves of the unknown. The days were spent moving from home, to work, to home on a linear trajectory. Often jolting awake at night from fitful sleep, I reminded myself to breathe. Exhaustion was pervasive.

The first weeks passed, and I became aware of a slow shift occurring. While fear was a permanent tenant, a new sense of well-being moved in. I found myself floating on calmer waters as hope filled the life raft under me with rarefied air. Spring arrived, bringing new growth of brilliant greens to the plants and a promise of new life to the wild things.

Weeks passed with fear and hope competing for dominance. Hope up and down, fear up and down. “Stay at home” and “social distancing” became the norm and provided a strange new routine. I began to sense a feeling that “events will turn out for the best.” Yet, it became clear that we cannot stay in hope. We need action steps to move toward courage. The courage to become better caretakers of our planet.

Courage. I admit I am wandering and wondering through this new stage. Where do I begin? What steps do I take? What does courage look like in these unprecedented times? How can we be courageous when we feel vulnerable?

“Courage doesn’t always roar. Sometimes courage is the little voice at the end of the day that says I’ll try again tomorrow.”

May Anne Radmaeher

My action steps will come from what I have learned about living on our beautiful blue boat home. Simple steps: drive less, consume less, share more. These are doable starting points. Effort will be required to resist the relentless pull to return to the old standard way of living. We must not go “back to normal.” Our normal was abnormal. We must stay awake to what Mother Earth is teaching us now.

The colorful letters in the featured image belong to my 4-year-old grandson. Backed with magnetic tape, they usually reside on my refrigerator. When I look at these simple block letters, I am encouraged to be brave; to believe we can create a new world for our children and grandchildren to grow up in.

Let us find courage to take action and write a novel narrative…one with sustainability and justice for all.