When I was a very little girl, I used to ride my tricycle back and forth on the sidewalk in front of my house.  One day, I decided to be brave and go around the block.  I peddled that trike as fast as I could, because it took a lot of courage for me to face the unknown. I peddled until I reached the middle of the unfamiliar block. I stopped, looked around and saw that everything was different. That was scary!  I turned my tricycle around and peddled back to where I had come from as fast as I could.  It was a relief to arrive safely back at my house—back to the familiar.

John Wayne said, “Courage is being scared to death—-and saddling up anyway.” There’s a story supposedly told by Gregory Peck. He and his wife were at a party when they were approached by John Wayne. After talking with them for awhile, he ambled away, whereupon Gregory Peck said to his wife, “That man really believes he’s John Wayne.” Obviously, at some point in his life, Marion Robert Morrison, of Winterset, Iowa had left his tricycle in the middle of an unfamiliar block and gone on without it.

So what does it mean to be brave? I don’t think it means you have to change who you are, but I do think that it means you have to be better than you think you are.

Winston Churchill said, “Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; Courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen.” It’s been a long time since I rode that tricycle around the block, but by now, I’ve been around the block many times. However, I have learned that sometimes when I want to argue with someone, because I don’t agree with him, that it is a small act of courage to keep my mouth shut. That’s when I ask myself,  “Is this battle worth fighting?” Is it important to argue this small issue? Do I want to be happy or do I want to be right?”

Stupidity I can tolerate—Bigotry not so much!  Once upon a time, many years ago we moved to Atlanta, Georgia. My husband, Warren, left for his first day of work, and I was left in our apartment with a toddler and a mountain of boxes to unpack.  Happily my little boy,  was sleeping as I began to unpack the boxes in the kitchen. Then, I heard a knock at the door. Turns out that the knocker was a young man named Joseph clutching a Bible to his chest. He said, “Good Morning. I see you’ve just moved in and I’d like to give you this Bible—-and tell you about my church.” Having heard about Southern hospitality, I said, “Common In, and offered him a glass of Sweet Tea.

After exchanging a few pleasantries about Atlanta, I gently told him, “I already have a Bible, and I am Jewish.”  At that point he asked me, “What would it take for me to convert you to Christianity?” I said, “That’s easy. All it would take is for people like you to set a good example and act like Christians.” Surprised, he said, “What do you mean?” Whereupon I replied,”You worship in a church that excludes people, who believe exactly as you do. You and your fellow parishioners refuse to pray with good people, because of the color of their skin. Obviously, there’s no room at your Inn. So, these righteous people have to worship in their own churches, because they are not welcome at yours.”

At that, the young man, who was sitting on my box of dishes, began to sob.  As tears ran down his face, he cried “You are right! You are right!” I handed him a box of Kleenex. At that moment my husband, Warren walked into the kitchen and said, “What’s going on here?” At that, Joseph, ran out of the door (with my box of Kleenex) crying, “You are right!” I said, to Warren, “Oh, you mean him? I just sent him on a mission so he can welcome lots of people to worship with him at his church.” Warren just shook his head and said, “Let’s order pizza.”

I recently read an article about shrews who eat their own brains in the winter—shrinking the cognitive tissue in order to survive the colder months. They then regrow much of the brain matter in the spring.  Researchers have found in the lab that when the shrew brain is smaller, it becomes less able to solve learning tasks—whereas in the spring, when the brain grows back their ability to solve lab puzzles appears to return.  I think that some people are just like shrews. They’d rather eat their own brains than have the courage to use them.

Maya Angelous said, “Without courage you can’t practice any other virtue consistently.” And, I would respectfully add that we will never discover who is really brave or who is spineless—as well as brainless—until something real happens, and they are tested.  That’s why it is important everyday to remember that everything you do and everything you say will affect someone else. IT MATTERS!

Esther Blumenfeld