Smart And Spicy

I have a friend who had to have a bone marrow transplant over the past year. That was brave. Now her Facebook photo is a picture of Wonder Woman. She's brave.

A writer I know has a 5-year-old grandson, Max, who loves the character "Iron Man". Max has hemophilia, a genetic condition that stops his blood from clotting. Max could die if he has even a minor injury. When Max needed surgery to get a metal port in his chest, he told people, “I get to be Iron Man!” Max and his sister made up calendars and sold them, raising $7500 for Max's hospital. When Marvel Comics heard about Max, they created a new character in the series, called Iron Max, and gave Max a special comic book. Now Max is a superhero. He's brave.

We all have life challenges. For many of us, these are not health-related. I'm trying to be brave myself with something I'm going through now. It's not easy.

I once had a friend who gave me a gift of a small clock face. It had no hands. My friend wrote on the card with it: "Our friendship is timeless. Be Brave." I didn't need to be brave then. Now I do.

Why do we lose things over time? Is there a reason? Have you noticed that small things often become more precious over time? They seem to acquire more meaning. Why is that? I wish I had that little clock face now.

I'm lucky that what I'm facing doesn't involve health issues, but it does require bravery.

Did you ever feel not brave? Am I the only one who feels not very brave? When faced with something hard, people perceive bravery differently.

When I made drastic changes in my life and moved to Paris, friends called that brave. It didn't feel that way to me. I just didn't see it that way; it felt like an imperative.

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Bravery is the capacity to perform properly even when scared half to death.

General Omar N. Bradley

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Soldiers are brave. Firemen are brave. First responders are brave.

I once met Jonas Salk, who discovered the first successful polio vaccine. I was sitting on a sofa next to him, and suddenly realized I was talking to a real-life hero. Was he brave? Are heroes brave?

Does bravery need to be heroic?

Do you have to be a hero to be brave? Are you a hero if you are brave? Or can ordinary normal people call up bravery when they need to?

British people have bravery instilled in them. It's more than a "stiff upper lip" thing. Great Britain is a country that has always honored its brave soldiers, not just on one or two days a year. Even the smallest town has a monument to fallen soldiers.

Once war-conscious, the U.S is honoring our soldiers and vets. Maybe not nearly enough.

To go to war. To fight in a war. To put yourself in a danger zone. That's brave.

Problems we each face in our lives dwarf in comparison.

Still, we all have our challenges. Be brave!.

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©Carole Bell 2016 Carole Bell is a writer interested in everything.

You can write to her at: smartspicy1@gmail.com