The Unmistakable Eyes Of Courage

You can tell when you have seen real courage. It has an unmistakable feature. The eyes of courage reflect a depth of dignity that is remarkable and transforming.

I have seen a number of remarkable things in my life . But few things move me as when I observe someone in a situation that would scream for self-pity, but instead they ably exercise service and sacrifice.

"Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage."

Yesterday, I spent the better part of four hours at a Boulder, Colorado hospital with a loved one. Most of that time, I was sitting in an uncomfortabe chair in the waiting room. There, I watched people with life-threatening illnesses walk in and out as I shifted in my seat.

Then one woman walked to the door who caught my eye. She wore a rumpled wig. Her eyebrows had been painted back on above her eyes. Her clothes seemed big and draped across her emaciated frame. She carried the gaunt pale of cancer on her face. Nevertheless, she had a smile and charm and outlook that stirred my soul.

As she walked into the room, she cheerily greeted the receptionist (which was a little backwards, if you ask me). Then I watched her check in with others who are waiting for their turn to be tested. Some tried to hide behind a magazine, or push their flip phone a little harder to their ear. But this woman had the uncanny ability of drawing people into her warming circle. People put their magazines away, and closed their phones so that they could enjoy the spirit of this woman.

Sometimes we look at folks, observe their problems, and make the shortsighted and selfish comparison, "at least I don't have it as bad as them!" Then we try to shake off the self-pity, and resume our everyday life. From what I could observe, this woman had it worst of all, yet she was actively seeking to make those in the waiting room a little happier, a little stronger, and a lot more hopeful.

Someone said, "Courage is not the absence of fear, but the awareness that something else is more important." I think this is the real active effort we should shoulder when we make these comparisons on status. Instead of saying, "at least I don't have it as bad as them", we can say, "this reminds me that I have far a more important work to do than to get stuck dwelling on my shortcomings, my sickness, or my sadness."

Could there really be a setback at work that would be so devastating, so all-consuming, that it would be really more important and meaningful than the things that matter most in our lives? Is there really some shortsighted insensitivity from a coworker could be so offensive, so distracting, so egregious, that we set aside our own dignity to angrily react?

You will always see dignity in the eyes of the truly courageous. And while some might bravely stand against the evils of the world, some of the courageous will simply stand for, and demonstrate the good in the world.