COURAGE

Courage is a strange word and a strange thing. Sometimes it takes courage to run to a thing, or just as much to run from it.  Examples of courage in heroic terms are easy concepts to grasp. A child is saved from drowning, a motorist delivers a baby, a woman risks her life to save her child.  These are often cited examples of strength and grace under pressure.  People don’t know how they achieved what they did, but adrenaline and a strong heart helped them achieve their ends.

A most admirable type of courage is the ability to continue to fight against time, illness, financial disaster or heartbreak. Ordinary people every day, silently muster the courage to rise from poverty, sickness, mental illness, depression, importunate tragedy and  the worst isolation and chaos.  Often these people don’t create empires, appear on magazine covers or become media personalities. They continue, they survive and they endure. 

Each year the Coast Foundation celebrates the moxie and stamina of men and women who have fought themselves back from the brink of death, tragedy and fateful setbacks. They do this by presenting “THE COURAGE TO COME BACK” awards.  The awards celebrate the human spirit, the excellence and focus of ordinary people faced with extraordinary challenges. Nominate someone you know for an award. If your friend, colleague or partner is a hero and a survivor, think of sharing their experience with others. Find out more about the awards, the award evening and how to nominate someone by reviewing Coast’s website at:
http://www.coastfoundation.com/courage/courage-nominate.html.

The important thing is this: To be able at any moment to sacrifice what we are for what we could become.

Charles DuBois