What Is Brave?

Bravery is not the absence of fear.  It's being scared and doing it anyway.  It's that simple.

Tonight was talent show night at my kids' school.  My 9-year-old daughter decided she wanted to sing a song with a friend.  And so she did.  As most schools do, I'm sure, they had a practice run in front of the whole school before the big show at night in front of the parents.  Actually, there were maybe 75-100 parents.  The entire school watched them perform their acts for the first time on the stage.  Let me rephrase that.  Twenty-five kids volunteered to get on stage in front of ALL their peers and perform a song, dance, magic show, play an instrument, or do a comedy act that could have the potential to go very wrong for any number of reasons.  Let me tell you, these kids were amazing!  They weren't perfect or professional performers, but they all rocked it.  None of them even appeared to have been coerced.  Seriously.  It was so cool to watch.  The kids were creative and original...and brave.  So brave.

I don't know all the kids, but I know a lot of them.  Some of them I've known since they were tiny munchkins that would barely say two words to me standing 3 feet in front of me, let alone a crowd of peers (aka potential hecklers).  Now they are 8, 9, 10, 11-year-olds putting themselves out there in this big world for all to see.  What kind of world changers will these kids be?  No one knows for sure, but I believe they've made the first step in the right direction.  Now let's follow their example and not be afraid of what our contemporaries might say when we say we have a dream.  Be bold.  Be scared...and do it anyway.  Be brave, friends.

How will you be brave today?  Comment below.