This is probably the best description of courage I’ve read in a long time. It is written by G. K. Chesterton in his book Orthodoxy:

“Courage is almost a contradiction in terms. It means a strong desire to live taking the form of a readiness to die. ‘He that will lose his life, the same shall save it’, is not a piece of mysticism for saints and heroes. It is a piece of everyday advice for sailors or mountaineers. It might be printed in an Alpine guide or a drill book. This paradox is the whole principle of courage; even of quite earthly or quite brutal courage. A man cut off by the sea may save his life if he will risk it on the precipice. He can only get away from death by continually stepping within an inch of it. A soldier surrounded by enemies, if he is to cut his way out, needs to combine a strong desire for living with a strange carelessness about dying. He must not merely cling to his life, for then he will be a coward, and will not escape. He must not merely wait for death, for then he will be a suicide, and will not escape. He must seek his life in a spirit of furious indifference to it; he must desire life like water and yet drink death like wine.”

You guys are examples of courage to me. You’ve made incredible steps to save your lives. Others might say you’re being careless. You might feel crazy. But instinctively, because you want to live a good and full life, no… because you MUST!… you have made bold moves that looks like you’re losing it, when in fact you’re saving it.

That’s courage! Well done.

(We’re going to be having another Potluck Hangout on Sunday that has a lot to do with courage called Can I Be Feminist and Spiritual?”). Help yourself!