For some unknown reason, when something particularly difficult happens, we - humanity - take it as a sign that we are not in good company.
I do not know a single person, of whom I am particularly fond, who has not undergone some sort of devastating moment.
The one where every bit of oxygen leaves you
at the precise instant that the air on every side closes in
pressing
on your every inch.
Quite at the same moment
each atom in your body fuses hot and cold
creating an unknown and altogether unappealing sensation that you are
drowning
while you also
happen to be on fire.
Spontaneous combustion seems palatable.
It is, in every way, the worst feeling.
But the glistening glory, the grain of sand that rebuilds an entire world, is the knowledge that this is but a moment that opens a doorway to a new kind of life. A life in which you live among giants.
Think of your heroes.
What was their tragedy?
And what is it that makes them your hero?
Surely it is their courage in the face of evil.
Tragedy, you see, welcomes you into excellent company.
But it is with courage that you earn your keep.
Courage is a funny thing.
You are given courage to begin with. It is in you. But it does not stay if you do not ask. And it certainly does not stay if you are unwilling to put forth the effort it demands. Courage must not only be actively chosen over and over again, but fought for. It offers itself in each choice, but it does not give itself easily.
In fact, usually, it is the quietest option. It waits to see if you will notice it's there, ask it to dance. Normally, to be honest, we choose fear, because look at the way it twirls in that dress. And flight, see the way it beckons you away? And, oh, revenge, how sweet it seems. But courage is the wallflower that woos us all.
Choose courage and you will be ruined for all the others.
And it is in this courage that you will one day look up and find that you have become the giant, and that you stand alone no longer.
