Courage
In January of this year, I was preparing to facilitate monthly explorations in Structured Word Inquiry (SWI). As I prepared for our first gathering, I pondered different words we might tackle. At this same time, I was reading multiple books and articles by Brene’ Brown. Two words continued to jump off the page as I read Brown’s work—courage and vulnerability. I was feeling quite vulnerable as I prepared to muster up courage to stand before adults and explore SWI with them. After all, I had only begun my SWI journey a couple of years prior, and there was still so much I didn’t know. Was I willing to be vulnerable in front of other teachers and tutors?
Well, studying the word courage seemed fitting, so I began exploring. I explored the etymology of <courage> and traced its history to "heart.” What does courage have to do with heart? Looking in several different dictionaries, I noticed that each one discussed the heart as the source of emotions. Following the trail a bit more, I found that some of the other words in the etymological family include accord, cardiac, cardio, core, cordial, credence, credo, credit, pericardium. But back to <courage>…
In preparing for our first SWI exploration, I pulled out the book Courage by Bernard Waber. As an elementary teacher for a number of years, one of my favorite activities was to read a text related to a content area and have students write on the topic. I would then bind these writings into a classroom book, which we disassembled at the end of the year so everyone could take their writing home. One year we created a book titled Courage is…
It was the week of our first exploration event, and several people had signed up to attend. A few days before the scheduled event I was told that we would not be able to use the space we had reserved. There had been an unexpected flood in the building. Should we cancel? Then I’d be off the hook for that month. The thought was tempting. However, that certainly wouldn’t be the courageous thing to do, so I looked for an alternate location and found one. Through the generosity of a local coffee shop, we would use one of their private rooms.
People showed up, we talked about SWI, and we began to dig into the meaning and spelling for the word courage and other words built from the word courage (e.g., courageous, courageously, encourage, discourage, encouragement). I’m not sure anyone knew how hard this had been for me (to show up and be willing to be vulnerable), but in the end I had fun and was willing to show up again.
Fast forward to April 2020, and we are in the middle of a pandemic referred to as COVID-19. We have been called to social distancing, a term I was unfamiliar with prior to our current events. As I often do, I’ve been reading and listening to music. The other day I was watching a YouTube video by The Afters, and the song I Will Fear No More was playing. As I watched the video, these words JUMPED off the screen—“You’re my COURAGE when I worry.” There it was again—courage. I love the saying we often use in SWI, “We can’t “unsee” what we’ve seen.” Once we “see” something through SWI, we tend to “see” it everywhere.
Once again I thought back to the very simple book my 1st and 2nd graders wrote back in 2006—Courage is… Back in 2006 I wrote, “Courage is sharing my thinking.” I guess that still holds true for me as I reflect on the fear I experienced as I prepared to share my thinking back in January. However, what does courage look like during a pandemic? Is it showing up to work in a healthcare facility? Is it showing up and restocking groceries so others may have what they need? Is it driving a truck so that loads can be delivered? Is it delivering mail so others can receive the things they need without leaving their house? Is it reaching out to a neighbor you hardly know just to see how they are doing? Is it getting up when I’d much rather sleep until all of this is over? Is it staying home, alone, when I’d much prefer to be with friends? Yes, to all of these! Courage takes many forms. What acts of courage are you demonstrating today?
