Ralph,
The most impressive thing about your story is that this kind of courage is an on-going daily battle which receives (usually) no recognition and is inherently lonely. I think there are so many people who get up each morning and face challenges and pain we can't imagine! It's a courage completely different from the Rescue 911 type of heroism.
THe most incredible act of courage I ever witnessed was my mother's confrontation with death. When she was diagnosed with terminal cancer, she refused all life-extending surgeries or treatments and choose to stay at home to die. When she could no longer eat anything solid, she still made meals and took them to people she felt were lonely. A week before she slipped into a coma, I flew in to be with her and found her counseling a young woman with marriage problems and still scheduling the volunteers for the library. There was standing room only at her funeral, the chapel full of all the people, young and old, whom she had touched. Hers was a horrifying death to watch, yet she never complained or felt sorry for herself. She did, however, get very impatient with anyone who issued forth platitudes and she got a little testy with the young minister from her church who couldn't guarantee that there was a hereafter.
To me, that is the true courage. Alone, in pain, and with no hope of rescue, to live each day with dignity, humor, and kindness. I still miss her so much. |
