“Only those who risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.” – T.S. Eliot

All accomplishments worth talking about can be traced back to brave men and women who rose above their fears and pursued their convictions. Driven by faith, they never let fear stop them. Courage is not the absence of fear, but the conquest of it. It is firmly embracing faith, the type spiced with daring moves. As Terri Guillemets commented, indeed, “Courage crawls atop fear and screams loud its mighty victory”

The brave are driven by positive energy …faith.

To the brave belongs the future. Achievers are born through feats that require both bravery and strong self-confidence. Men and women who put their lives on the line to accomplish tasks that have positively affected generations were not the bright, but the brave ones. Indeed, Bravery is Genius!

The world needs bright people. The world needs brave people. The world desperately needs bright people who are brave. It is not the bright but the brave who change the world!

Rosa Parks a truly brave black American woman inspired a generation to fight for Civil Rights by refusing to give a seat to a white. She began a movement that ended up putting an end to legal segregation in America and today, a black man can be the president of the United States of America. Wangari Maathai , a Kenyan passionate about trees went against the grain and dared to oppose an all-powerful presidency, and today, Kenyans can enjoy the serene parks and forest cover. The Wright Brothers in a daring move changed the way we travel by inventing the airplane. We cannot talk about bravery without mentioning those who fought for the independence of their nations. The ‘Nelson Mandelas’ who chose fight rather than flight have made freedom a reality. These and others may not have been the brightest of their day but the bravest!

A Kenyan proverb says, “Cowards have no scars” and to that, I agree. The brave know that to reach for the stars, scars are inevitable. When you decide to engage in a fight, be ready to be fought. Overcome the fear of losing, and then you will win. Engaging the forward gear of faith disengages the reverse gear of fear.

Believe and Bravery are twins …they come together!

When the world runs short of brave people, it runs short of great inventions and basic freedoms. When individuals score low on courage, the overall result is a routine life devoid of creative accomplishments. When this happens, joy eludes us and its place is taken by cowardice acts of conformity and compromise, trying to fit in other people’s world rather than fix our own. Andrew Jackson wrote, “One man with courage makes a majority.” He was right.

Find your true self

We are uniquely crafted, each different from another. The greatest goal of life should be to find, accept and develop one’s true self, an exercise only the courageous undertake. Finding who you truly are and living that out is the bravest move anyone can make, make it today, don’t settle in other people’s world, be bold enough to creatively craft your own!

 

Steve Muthusi