I’ll start with this quote from Nelson Mandela:
"I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear."
Talking with Robin Detterman, Executive Director for All In, I mentioned the topic of Courage and my search for inspiration for this week’s post. Her response was immediate: “I think of Courage as the ability to return to Hope.” What followed was a rich discussion about how we want to create the conditions for the return to hope, so that our staff and students can greet their work and their lives with courage even in the most trying of times. We discussed how we can’t do this alone; that showing up for someone else is sometimes the most powerful way for them to access their courage and face adversity with a greater sense of self and connection.
Our job as directors, supervisors and leaders is in large part to bring hope to our teams when the going gets tough. We want to make sure staff know that we are here, see them and believe in them. It is, in essence, a parallel process to what our clinicians, teachers and student support assistants offer the students and schools they serve. Our staff holds hope and bears witness, so that students and families with challenges that threaten to take them down are able to access their internal motivation to persevere. Mandela calls this conquering or triumphing over fear. I like to think of courage as experiencing fear and pressing on, the courage to show up. And I know that we cannot do it without a sense of connection and purpose, without each other. Without love.
Valarie Kaur addresses the topic of love, bravery and justice in her inspiring Ted Talk ”3 lessons of revolutionary love in a time of rage“.
I also want to share a poem from Angel Gardner, Seattle's Youth Poet Laureate 2016/17, titled Black Courage. You can read her poem and a bit about her journey here: http://kuow.org/post/black-courage-young-poets-words-her-son
Emily Marsh, Director of Clinical Intervention