Saturday, July 08, 2006 ;
2:30 PM
In life, it is in the small things that we all see, and in it, there is much to be found. For one, there is courage, sometimes minute to the smallest grain you would ever imagine, and it can be as large as you could think off. Likened to many things in life, courage can also be found in the various aspects and different times in life. Courage does not come just like that, although at some point of time, they do appear just like that, but otherwise, it is nurtured over time, through experience. It is detriment on what you do, or what you have encountered, or whatever that has happened to you.
At the start of a life, in infancy, perhaps, this is when this miraculous thing called courage starts to spawn. The child’s first step, taken when he learns to walk, it is just so stunning and awesome; every step is likened to that of an earthquake on the floor. Where we say stomping on holy ground, perhaps it may not be holy ground, but it is still a stomp, and is very significant about it, since that is the child’s first step, it must require a lot of courage behind it. To be able to brave a first step, amidst all the fear that you might fall, it is just stunning.
Then there was the first time one rode on a bike. It is just completely wonderful to see the child speeding down the sidewalk on a sunny Sunday, riding a bike – for the first time in his life. Doesn’t that just look nice? But doesn’t that require courage too? The courage needed for the child, to go against the fear of falling, it must be immense, and must have filled more than this world, to have the confidence to go against his greatest fears.
When the child makes his own journey for the first time, the first time he boarded the lift himself, took a public transport himself, went on a trip to the store alone. It must have been very frightening indeed, as if he were about to be spanked any moment, but this spanking is one that is headed for his heart, his feelings. Shouldn’t he just break down and cry? But he did not. He mustered the courage to carry on down to wherever the road takes him. Now, isn’t that just a show of the great powers of courage?
When the child is in elementary school, for the first time. He is insulted by those who were intimidating, and those that stood towering over him, kicking him around, bossing him around, and taking his seat off the swing, or snatching the ball from him. Now he had to endure all those nonsense, and had to endure every beating, cursing, swearing he received. It was like acid, and he had to swallow it and keep it in himself, and try not to be such a whimp in front of his aggressors. Now, isn’t that courage? If not, how would he be able to face those who stood in front, lording over him?
Another stage of life comes, and in this stage of life, the child turns into a young adult, a young man, though not really a man, but nearly there. He had to face a flurry of everything, responsibilities, insults, nagging, practically anything you can think, and all these were likened to bullets and bombs. If this was not a war, what was it? You had to fight for your own face, for your place in the society that tries to topple people and their image almost every single day. It is cruel, no? It had to be. And how in the world did the young man managed to stay as he is, and keep himself standing at the top? He must have had a lot of courage to stand up to all those bullets, fight as the field Marshall, at the front of battle; this must have been what he has been doing. Every one is a field Marshall of their forces, their forces being their own feelings. If you can lead your men on the charge that wins the war, hopefully, you just could live to see the next battle, and fight out every battle you encounter. And in the end, what did you find out? The young man did it humbly, though with a great deal of courage, but he only had a hat over his heart. Now, isn’t that just sheer courage? With what few resources he has, he wages a war of emotions, and image, and still is able to live through day by day. If that were not courage, then what could it be?
Weaknesses were the core thing that people picked on. They were hell bent on getting you down, and the best way was to pick on it. The weakness was there, for one to fondle it, so private, so hidden, so personal, it would be unwise to share it, even with a girlfriend, or boy friend. That would be a show that you are weak. To hide it, one had to bear everything, perhaps even put up a show to cover this truth; like a façade. And that alone, too, requires courage.
Sometimes, the courage could be just hovering there, and may be something difficult to accept. It may be like a coal you kept swallowing, always there, significant yet difficult to accept that. And to accept that, courage is needed too. Ironic, for you have to use courage to counter the difficulties of courage.
If a friend did something for you, at great costs on his part, then it is no longer the courage he shows. It is love, just plain love. Perhaps your girl would have sacrificed something on her part for you. Or your boyfriend may have just risked his life to save yours, from something nasty. Now, that is just love, and as plain as that. The love they show needs courage too, and without the courage to stand up and help you, it may well have been your life. Cowardice is not something to be fooled around with. Courage alone can do anything.
Perhaps later on in life, one would able to deal ore effectively with all the blows he receives in life. He may be able to just get over it as easily as it came, though it may be difficult to get rid of it. Likened to picking scabs off, from the heart, and perhaps having to hang them out like socks, and all these too, needs courage. To be able to deal with ones feelings and emotions effectively, it really needs courage, and only through that can one truly be able to lead a life without any worry for insults, for he can just shrug it off, bravely, openly.
However, all these hidden feelings, may well have been bottled up somewhere, and have been smothered by all the hate, greed, lust and anything bad and devious you can think off. It may have been hidden, and have been there all this while, but there might be no chance for its emergence, until one day, when one has received enough of all the floggings in life, he lashes back at it, in one powerful stroke, perhaps strong enough to end it all, and send the shockwave to the surroundings. People may find that this is a show of pure strength, or just a back lash after so many moons of harsh treatment, after all, what can a beaten dog do? Bite back of course. This alone needs courage, to forgo the fear of losing all that stood for him, and losing those precious assets. That had to be courage.
As life comes to a close, you will begin to express this courage more openly, and more effectively. This courage will stay with you, even until the harsh reality takes the very life from your lips, and leave you as nothing but a mere existence of the pass, a memory, then a legend, then a myth, then lost in the shrouds of time…
As the time goes by, experience will sharpen, and you will be blessed with knowledge of all that is around you. Wits will sharpen although guard will be lowered, as natural with an old person, who has not long more to live.
You will shower those whom are dear to you with love like never before, and love them so dearly, you hope never to lose them, or let anything happen to them. When a son falls ill or gets out of a job, or when a grandchild does badly in school, or gets into some trouble with society, will you not be saddened?
As you bargain with the calendar, hoping that you could still live to see a few more springs, then hoping to see you grandchildren go to school, then hoping to see them into university, then seeing them into marriage, then into the time to see your great grand children. This just never ends. And at such a juncture, you need courage to be able to bargain with the sands of time, shamelessly. You need courage once again, just like you have leaned against it for the past decades of your life.
Then comes the time when death comes to claim you, and you know that you have to leave. Perhaps your wishes are fulfilled, perhaps they aren’t. But whatever happens, you still need the courage to face death, and to be able to go to the far reaches of the neither world, and be able to accept the fact that you will be leaving behind those that you love, and they might not want you to leave so soon, but you still have to go, after all, men have to die someday…just a matter of when.
They always say that death is only a beginning. Only with courage, can you part with this world, and let go of all that you once had, of all that loved you, of everything you liked, or admired, and move on to another new journey, waiting for you in the afterlife.
Even till the end…courage has to be shown…is that in any way, the chivalry of mankind?
(Taken from one of y literature exercises, but I felt that I might have written something inspirational, and would like to remember it.)
light my way ♥
