The very quality and characteristic that the Cowardly Lion so desired and sought after is indeed an elusive state to achieve for many of us.
The funny thing about courage is that, more often than not, we do not have the opportunity to display it until the moment is upon us!
It is difficult to prepare to be Courageous, to be ready to be courageous when the time comes.
I also believe that you can learn courage through self-inflection, prayer, and a complete grasp of the person you either are or want to be.
When I think of courageous acts, many come to mind -- the young dissident stopping the Chinese tank outside of Tiananman Square, the firefighters resonding to the terrorist attack at the World Trade Centers on 9/11, our military heroes deployed in various war zones throught the planet!
These are all famous and glaring examples of courageous acts indeed!
However, courageous acts do not always have to be on grand scales or televised. There are quiet, demure heroes committing extreme acts of courage every day and we often do not see them.
I recall an evening back in circa 1977 when I was about 10 years old. My Mom, Dad and I were stopped at a light in my hometown in Massachusetts. It was dark out and probably like 8 or 8:30pm.
Directly to our left on the sidewalk was a group of teenagers and it became clear to the three of us very quickly that this group of 4 or 5 kids was picking on one other kid.
As we waited for the light to turn green, I could see my father witnessing what was taking place about 100 feet from our car.
The 5 bullies were punching and kicking the one other boy and I could see my father's mind churning.
Here he had his 10 year old son and wife in the front seat of the family car, in traffic at a stop light. Just outside the car he had a defenseless young man whom he did not know being beaten and assaulted by a cowardly gang of bullies.
Then the light turned green.
My dad, visibly angry and torn between the safety of his family and the wrong that was being done to the young man, ripped off his glasses and threw them on the dashboard.
"Do not get out of this car and lock it behind me", he barked at my Mom and me.
This man of 50 plus years of age immediately leapt out of the car and rushed over to the young man in distress and began yelling at the group of bulllies.
Clearly outnumbered by these jerks, my Dad began grabbing them one by one by the back of their jackets and shirts and pulled the vctim off the ground.
The bullies had to be stunned by his actions as they stared in disbelief at this middle aged man yelling at them, chastising their actions and showing absolutely no fear in coming to this boy's aid.
I watched my dad pointing his fingers at the cowards and dragging the battered and beaten boy back to our car where he threw him into the back of our now hastily unlocked car and backseat.
The boy was bleeding badly from his nose and face and was in equal disbelief by my Father's courageous act!! We drove him home and we went home ourselves.
The only thing my dad said to me, in typical fatherly love, was, "Do not EVER do what I just did."
And he meant it!
But it was too late - his courage and actions in the face of unknown danger and violence that night has never left me and it burned in my memory!
I will never forget it and my Dad, who was already me Hero prior to that evening, was indelibly solidified in my "Hall of Fame of courage" and invincibility!
After he passed away, we were going through boxes of his things with my Mom. Not surprisingly, we came upon a certificate dated in the early 1950's on Boston Police letterhead.
The letter was a commendation for Bravery awarded to my Dad after he jumped into a freezing Boston Harbor one night on foot patrol (long before his Sargeant/Lieutenant days) to save a man who had fallen into the drink.
My Dad never told me about it, never mentioned it to my brothers and sisters, and for his Bravery he received the citation from the Mayor of Boston along with 3 vacation days!
All of us has that same courage within us -- but it is a question of whether we will let it shine through in that very moment it is needed that remains a mystery.
Pray that if an when the time comes and we are called upon by fate to display that courage we all possess, that we can rise to the occasion like my Dad, Edward J. Flaherty did his whole life!
I pray every day for it!
Stay Strong!
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