Being brave is hard. The risks are huge, but the rewards usually aren’t. Often there is no reward at all, or sometimes, in rare cases, bravery comes at a steep price- a life lost, a career ruined, relationships shattered.
People have lost their homes, their families, and everything else they ever had for the “crime” of standing up while others cowered.
We tend to think of bravery as something big and loud, like an action hero kicking down a door, but most of the time bravery is much smaller and quieter, happening subtly without an audience cheering it on.
Bravery is a teenage girl getting on a bus to go chase a dream and then refusing to compromise her integrity to make that dream come true.
Bravery is a group of people sitting stoically at a lunch counter while those around them shout, shove, grab and throw food at them.
Bravery is a woman in front of a television camera speaking a truth that the world is not ready to hear.
Bravery is a man in uniform standing on the steps of the Capitol, knowing as he does so that he is going to go to jail and that when he does he is going to lose his job, his rank, his benefits and any hopes he had for his future but doing it anyway because he decided that his duty to the people and principles that he swore to protect outweigh his loyalty to a man who doesn’t deserve it.
Bravery is doing something that matters while everyone else just drifts along.
Small acts of bravery often seem as insignificant as a pebble in a stream. At the time they happen they may look futile. Some may say they’re a pointless waste of time and energy, but they are incorrect. Each of those acts is actually the first step in something larger and they all add up until change becomes inevitable.
So be brave, because it may be hard and the cost may be high, but the cost of not being brave is much higher.
Image Credit:
Eagle in Flight at NCBP by David Dixon
courtesy of Wikimedia Commons