We'll face unafraid, the plans that we've made...

.....walking in a winter wonderland.

Now, I'm not really sure what facing the future with courage has to do with walking in the snow, but I must say, that of all the lyrics in all the not-really-about-Christmas Christmas songs out there, this line is my favorite.  The rest of the song annoys me, especially since the store apparently thinks everyone would just love to hear two versions of the same song back to back. (Seriously people I know that Christmas music isn't the biggest genre out there, but there are so many better, or at least more, options! I heard this song at least three times today. I think I'd prefer Suzie Snowflake.)

I like this line because it speaks of courage.  Some may say optimism, some may call it wistful thinking, but I like to think that it has a deeper meaning behind it, whether the lyricist meant it to or not.  See, I think that to say "we'll face unafraid" implies that the young couple knows that their plans are just outrageous enough that if they think about it too much they might actually be afraid to face them.  And so they decide to face them anyways, without fear.  The world may see that as foolish. I see that as courage.  Because isn't that a little bit what courage is?  Foolishness? Isn't it just a little foolish for that young man to risk his life in our military?  Isn't it a little foolish to run into that burning building to find the child that is still inside?  Isn't it foolish to rush to the aid of a stranger in need when danger could be just around the corner?  And yet we don't call these people foolish.  We call them heroes. Courage is looking foolishness in the eye and saying, "There is something that is worth more than my fear."

The opportunity to demonstrate courage that big and bold doesn't come to us every day.  I have many friends in the military.  Few are overseas at the moment.  Most likely they won't need to make the choice to risk their lives for another anytime soon.  Same with the rest of us.  A few have chosen professions that put them in danger often; firefighters, police officers.  The rest of us may one day have the opportunity to save a life.  We may witness a car crash or a heart attack and be able to rise to the occasion but that situation will come upon us suddenly, with no warning.  You can decide to be heroes now but when the time comes, you may forget how to unlock the car door and be rendered useless.

I wonder, though, what would happen if we faced every day looking for opportunities to be courageous.  What if we decided to ask someone who is clearly struggling if we could help even though it may be a huge time commitment?  What if we started saving money for our dreams now so we can see them realized later?  What if we saw an opportunity and took advantage of it, not in spite of being scared but because of it?  

Its funny how courage isn't really thought about until it is lacking or shown extraordinarily.  And when we do see it we realize how much we’ve missed it. Now, I don’t mean that we should go out looking for danger to prove that we are brave.  Courage can be shown every day.  For example I had a friend tell me recently that she'd been asked out by a guy she wasn't interested in.  Even though she was not attracted to him, she was very impressed that he had the guts to say something.  Now, I'm not sure if this was showing extraordinary courage of the kind to be likened to death defying feats of bravery, but it definitely stood in stark contrast to experiences that every single girl in the room had dealt with where someone had taken the easy way out rather than ask one simple question. 

It makes me think of the question that a junior high teacher once asked my class. "What would you do if you knew you could not fail?"  I’ve always thought about that question in the context of the big things, save-the-world kind of things.  But I wonder if we lived every day with that question in our hearts and just went for things what would happen.  I think the courage to face the big stuff would follow.  Should we experiment?  After all, failure isn’t so bad, as long as we keep trying something new.  Did you know that Edison wasn’t the first person to come up with the concept of the light bulb?  He was just the first person to have the determination and courage to try thousands and thousands of filaments until one worked long enough to be practical.  Everyone else took the easy way out and have been forgotten about entirely.

So here's my question to you: "What would you do if you knew you could not fail?"