Bravery and Courage.

Okay, I am about tired of hearing about the Caitlyn Jenner story but more than actually hearing about it, i'm tired of people's negative, one sided assessments of it. Everyone has an opinion, that much is true and everyone will share their opinions whether you ask them too or not. It seems to me that people often judge what they simply do not understand or what doesn't agree with their own beliefs. If you do that aren't you just as bad as the person you are criticizing, especially if you're coming at it from a religious stand point?

What defines courageous or brave to you?
The dictionary defines them this way:
COURAGE

noun
1.
the quality of mind or spirit that enables a person to face difficulty, danger, pain, etc., without fear; bravery.

BRAVE

adjective, braver, bravest.
1.
possessing or exhibiting courage or courageous endurance.
2.
making a fine appearance.
3.
Archaic. excellent; fine; admirable.

Based on those definitions we can say that a person who stands up & speaks out for what they feel is a subject they might be belittled or berated for is indeed Brave and since brave ties in with courage, they're courageous, too. Courage's definition simply states that it's "the quality of mind or spirit that enables a person to face difficulty, danger, pain, etc., without fear" and ends in the word bravery. The definition of brave is "possessing or exhibiting courage or courageous endurance. Admirable." Can't we agree that standing up for something you know the majority of the world won't agree with or understand is indeed brave? It takes courage to stand up and allow yourself the vulnerability of being scrutinized no matter what the subject is.


I feel like comparing her to a soldier is completely irrelevant because those are two totally different sides of the spectrum. Soldiers are brave because they go out and combat the enemies to serve and protect the people of America. Soldiers are the tough guys and they go through hell and back, usually. A person dealing with their own inner feelings are fighting a war on a much smaller scale. The hell they go through day in and day out is within themselves and once they combat that inner hell then they are able to fight on a much larger playing field. They are able to speak out to the rest of the world and share their story in hopes that they can save one person's life. I think there's courage and bravery on both sides of that.

We've all had to face times in our lives when we had to be brave and courageous. Maybe it was in 3rd grade when you had to do your very first big class presentation, maybe it was the time you had to tell your parents you messed up and did something wrong when you were a teenager, maybe it was when you had to sing out loud in a college class as part of a presentation, maybe it was simply getting up the nerve to ask that pretty girl out on a date. Whatever the case may be, we've all had to be brave at one point or another in our lives. No it wasn't worthy of a magazine cover and no it wasn't all over the headlines but we've all been there. So before you point your finger at anyone else you better make sure you are 100% perfect yourself and you're not. I'm not. None of us are. Shocker, I know! So let's all stop judging each other because when we're judging others we have no time to love them.

The fact that Bruce Jenner finally is being true to himself (if you watched the Diane Sawyer special you'd know that he's been dealing with this since he was 9 years old. Imagine a lifetime of hiding who you really are) doesn't affect the majority of people in any other way than giving them the next big subject to talk about and scrutinize but maybe he's changing someone's life in a way that you don't know about. Maybe he's helping someone else become their own person by giving them a face to relate to in this storm of his life after all "it takes courage to grow up and become who you really are." E.E. Cummings. I feel that's especially true in a world where we're still not as accepting as we should be about things like this. People are quick to throw religion into the mix in times like these which saddens me. Someone posted on someone else's Facebook wall "My God doesn't make mistakes" in regards that he made Bruce a man and he should stay that way. To that I say you're right My God doesn't make mistakes. He made every person the way they are for a reason, a reason that maybe only he understands but that's not for us to judge. If you want to get all religious then that's your prerogative but man you're missing out on some incredible people in this beautiful life and you're still a sinner, just like the rest of us.

This weekend I challenge you every time you judge someone (we all do) to immediately find something positive about the exact thing you just judged. It'll start to change your life.