Courage

"When you pray, you only have to ask for two things.  You should ask for the light to see the will of God, and you have to ask for the courage to be able to do the will of God."
     Venerable Msgr. Aloysius Schwartz

Unfortunately the world is sometimes a difficult place to survive.  In some countries war rages and atrocities are committed on a daily basis.  In other places, there is simply a failure in society where it becomes fashionable to bully others for no reason other than being different in some way.  Regardless of the severity of the personal attack, pain and suffering are generated at great cost emotionally for both the attacker and the attacked. It is so sad that the world continues to condone these cowardly acts of anger, vengeance, discrimination, torture (mental and physical), humiliation, and devastation.

It takes acts of courage to do the right thing and stand up for the victims.  It is at great personal cost that individuals attempt to protect those who are unable to protect themselves. Some have even lost their lives, have become a victim themselves or become mentally, emotionally, or physically hurt because they have the bravery to stand up against peer pressure, society, lawlessness, and cruelty. Fear is a strong motivator to walk away and not "get involved."  We are already involved because we know about it and are silently permissive because we do not act, we hide.  It is a decision that we all have to make when the time comes and we have to take a stand or run away.  Every time we observe but do not act, we become an accessory to the horror of the situation.

Courage is defined as "Being scared to death--and saddling up anyway."  John Wayne, actor

I hope that if we ask God for help, we will all have "Grace under pressure."  Ernest Hemingway