Courage

Courage is defined by the Oxford dictionary as the ability to do something that frightens one. And today I wonder in the melee of the 21^st century whether we ever have the courage to do what we want and ought to do. Today morning, I had to take the task of bidding goodbye to my daughter’s nanny. Though she had not stayed long with us something was just not right. I told her I was not satisfied with some of the things she did and even went ahead to demonstrate some of them myself but she didn’t change. I kept complaining and complaining and complaining but I did not have the courage to fire her earlier. I rationalized everything, that I should give her some more time eventually she will change, that I don’t have time to train another one or even heck I could survive her for another few months. But this never changed the fact that I was dissatisfied.

So I rationalized some more and with every passing day I felt sicker than the day before. But yesterday I knew I had to do it. I had to gather all courage to tell her that she would not be in my employment anymore. Though I did not use these exact words hiding behind the tact that I have mastered (or so I think) along the way. As I mumbled my explanation to her, I wondered whether she knew why I was letting her go. I started rationalizing her leaving again until I realized I was not courageous enough to look at the situation from my perspective and not hers.

See, most human beings me included are inherently selfish. So selfish that when we see a smartly dressed person our first inclination is to think how smart we would look if we wore the same clothes. This is long before we even compliment them-this is proven scientifically-. That is how strange we are. We think we are the most just, most intelligent, most good looking, most logical people on earth and so on and so forth. Guess what, we just don’t have the courage to look at the mirror and tell ourselves, guess what, you are not all that.

Please don’t misunderstand my thinking that we are not great people, we are. We just don’t know great people in what. Dr Wale Akinyemi keeps writing that it is not the schooling or birth right that we have that determines where we go but the functionality of our brains. In other words do we have the courage to exercise our brains enough to allow us see things as they are?

We must know when to come to a total halt and change the direction in our lives, jobs, families and relationships. The courage to look family in their face and tell them that they are alcoholic and if they didn’t do something would end up dead. The courage to write that resignation letter in that rut job and move on to entrepreneurship without the security of an end month paycheck. The courage to end that selfish friendship where both parties suffer from being together. And most importantly the courage to look at the mirror and tell the person therein (as Jesus famously said and I now rephrase) wake up and walk, your courage has saved you.

Have a courageous one.

Sojourner.