Brave?

The water being hurled from the sky this morning and the displacement of air (thunder) kept me awake so in typical me fashion I got up (It was almost 6am! There are things that need doing!) and went to see what the world was up to this morning. I ran across an article (I'm not going to link it) where someone was being praised for being brave for standing up to something.

It got me wondering about bravery. People have called me "brave" before for going through what I am going through, though when I think about it, to ME (dictionary.com is going to disagree with what bravery is) bravery is doing something that needs or has to be done in a selfless fashion. Maybe bravery isn't the word I am looking for. Dictionary.com says, "possessing or exhibiting courage or courageous endurance" which leads to courage: "the quality of mind or spirit that enables a person to face difficulty, danger, pain, etc., without fear."

In my experience there are two kinds of "courage": Selfless, and selfish. The article I mentioned above the person was being praised for an act of "selfish courage". They were standing up to X because they themselves wanted Y. Then there are other's who will do selfless acts of courage, generally risking life and being in REAL danger for doing something to possibly help someone or a group of someones.

Much of what I have endured, and gone through has been a "Selfish Courage". I fight, I endure, I face difficulty, danger and pain because I want to live. I don't know if this is really a trait that should be praised or admired. The fact that God has USED that selfishness is evidence of His ability to use anything for His good and benefit of more people than just me. There have been times though when I am really down, or weak, or tired that I do what I do for Lisa, but frankly that is the extent of my "Selflessly facing cancer."

I started out this blog post with a point, and ended up poking myself with the stick of conviction instead. I guess what I am really asking for is that you consider people's motives before you praise them for something. Don't praise me for being motivational, thank God that despite me you have been motivated.


~B.
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