To Be Courageous Is To Be Vulnerable
On cultivating quiet, sustainable courage
Earlier this month, I wrote how each January, I ask myself How can I be more courageous? How is fear holding me hostage? For me, these questions often revolve around personal relationships and my writing, but this week, I’ve been reflecting on what it means to be courageous in a country where fascism is now firmly rooted.
There are those, like Alexei Navalny, who are willing to sacrifice their lives to resist dictatorship and oppression. There are others, like Claudette Colvin, whose single, defiant act leads to a tidal wave of resistance. We know these stories—loud, outspoken defiance. But courage doesn’t need to be loud to be powerful.
Courage is complicated. To be courageous is to be vulnerable. Courage cannot exist without some level of vulnerability. The question is, what level of risk are we personally willing/able to take on?
There can be a policing of sorts, an imposition by others who critique how people choose to resist. It’s a terrifying time for man…