Courage

"To courageously shoulder the responsibility of one's mistakes is character"
- Fortune Cookie



There's something especially humbling about failure; a quality that insufficiency evokes in us. It is at these failure turns, twists, and forks in the road that we discover our inadequacy, become fully acquainted with our fragility, and a heightened awareness of our mortality reveals itself. The manner in which we view ourselves and the world around us changes in the blink of an eye; we are touched in a way that morphs us into individuals with a deeper sense of purpose and a singular focus - to live life fully and wholly.

"It is the most liberating thing to not have to be perfect," I said to my 'Introduction to Speech Communication' students this morning. When we recognize that mistakes are inevitable - that they are part of the learning process - we become less averse to making them. And, when we do, we boldly and courageously shoulder the outcomes; knowing that we have mastered fear rather than been mastered by it.

I find that seeing my size in relation to the remainder of the world has potent "medicinical" purpose; introspectively and otherwise. When it is not always about me, I am more apt to see the needs and hurts of others. When the focus is removed from what can be done for "number one", I become viral in my ability to reach out to others. And this state of affairs is brought about most effectively by failure...by mistakes. And, honestly, it requires daily effort to shoulder the burdens and responsibilities associated with mistakes.

As we face another fiscal quarter with an ailing economy marked by almost 10% unemployment nationwide, we are forced to shoulder the responsibilities of good and bad judgment; of wise and unwise financial transactions; of choices made and unmade. Whatever our gains or loses, it is prudent for us to learn that our character as individuals and as Citizens of the World can only be sharpened if we consciously choose for it to happen. Sure, some of us will lose our homes, our vehicles, and, to a degree, our way of life. But make no mistake, my friends; if we, but, set our hopes on who we could potentially become, there will be no economy awful enough to quench the fires of creativity and growth we will stoke...

Is that a monkey on your back...or something else?

(c) 2009, Dr. Kozhi Sidney Makai. No part of this blog post may be reproduced or stored in a retrieval system without the written consent of the copyright holder.