“I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.” Nelson Mandela

One of the myths that surround our Nations founding was that the British army during their surrender at Yorktown marched to a tune called “The World Turned Upside Down”.  Nobody knows for sure but it is most likely that they just somberly marched to a beating drum.  In their hearts they were probably feeling like the world just turned, especially those in the ranks of the officers who had to understand the significance of their circumstances.  On that day in October the world truly did turn upside down as it had many previous times before and since.   On a personal level it occurs with marriage and a birth of a child which are happy life changing moments.  Being diagnosed with cancer or a different life threatening disease or a serious injury are the flip side to life’s happiness moments.

In between the two is life and with life there are many little quakes when the earth shifts under your feet; most are not perceptible until you look back and then there are some you notice and shrug off not understanding the cause or connecting the effect.  The times that you are behind some guy who insists that the 35 mph speed limit is too fast and is doing 25 instead can be infuriating but what if Providence has placed him there in order to prevent you from being ticketed for speeding or worse – getting involved in an accident?  There are no coincidences in life, like a Pin Oak tree life offers thousands of branches that you can take but they are all connected and you can trace them back to the source.  You don’t know where each decision will lead you but on you trudge hoping for the best.  Good or bad the decisions you make are yours to keep.  That does not mean that a bad decision can not be changed at some point or a good decision could lead to an uncomfortable position.  It takes time though and some self reflection to trace back to that decision and see why and how you came to it.  You may not have the power to change the result of a decision made but you can amend the decision and follow that new branch.  As time passes that bad decision while still there will have less importance except to serve as a learned reminder.

So what happens when your world turns upside down?  Is it a minor shake or a major eruption?  Either occurrence require that you summon up the one thing that seems to be lacking these days – courage.  Todays society does not like courage and discourages it’s use.  As a baby boomer growing up in the shadows of the Second World War and then the Korean War courage was exemplified by the many actions of our men that participated on the battlefield.  And as a standard to have set I can’t think of a better one.  No matter what time period, the battlefield is the most gruesome and fearful place one can find themselves.  Mortality facing them squarely in the face but carrying on is the epitome of courage and to be admired.  The “progressive” left has, since the carnage of World War I, derided any admiration for such courage or actions and the “progressive” right has no problem with putting it’s Armed Forces in harms way.  While these battlefields are the extreme tests of courage and the standard set; there are many personal battlefields that occur every day and while a life or death outcome may not be imminent, the pursuit of happiness is contingent on courage when the world turns upside down.

“He who has courage and faith will never perish in misery!” Anne Frank

Where does courage come from? I believe that it is a character trait that everyone is born with and it is either developed or destroyed by life.  It could be said that it is a balance between Faith and Fear.  For my friends and family that do not believe in God, before you start shutting down, faith is not exclusively “religious”.  But, and this is a big but, having faith in God and knowing that whatever you are facing is small gives you a firm foundation to act courageously when it is needed to face down adversity.  Self reliance will get you far but there will come a point when the “self” isn’t enough and a faith in God will be needed to succeed against the adversary.  Or you could just surrender to the adversary and continue to live on like nothing has changed.

Surrender comes in different forms but the most prevalent especially in todays society is compromise.  Our society today is based on a series of compromises and encourages compromise in every aspect of life.  In politics the “moderate” is the ideal (but in reality there are no moderates); in sports from youth (where there are no winners or losers and everyone gets a trophy) to professional (where successful teams or individuals get mocked or accused of dishonest actions); in the schools where standing up to a bully is as bad or worse than being the bully; at work where you are forced to compromise your values by a “manager” and company.  Each one of these surrenders or compromises when made out of fear will lead to unhappiness and eventually failure.  You may believe that nothing has changed but one day you wake up and wonder how in the hell you got to where you are and then as you follow all those little branches on that Pin Oak, you see that each one was a compromise or surrender leading you further from the Source and when a storm arrives is the first to fall.

The courage is within you and all you have to do is tap it the first time for it to flow.  But that first time for many is a daunting task that seems insurmountable but once achieved a new person is born, a new branch developed.

“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.” Winston Churchill