It Takes Courage

“You can’t swim for new horizons until you have the courage to lose sight of the shore.”

It takes courage to leave your comfort zone, it takes courage to go after your dreams, it takes courage to live a life worth remembering. It’s very easy to die, it takes courage to live.

It takes courage to grow and become all you are destined to be, it takes courage to embrace the possibilities of your potential, it takes courage to go after what you desire. It’s very easy to stop, it takes courage to keep climbing until you reach the top.

It takes courage to look at your failures and still choose to try again, it takes courage to meet with fierce opposition and still choose to fight, it takes courage to endure pain, and choose to be strong. It’s very easy to fall, it takes courage to stand.

If you have tried and met with defeat, If you have planned and watched your plans fail, If you have given your all and again you lost,

Remember that the great men and women who have lived before us were all products of courage.

Courage doesn’t mean you don’t get afraid, it means you don’t let your fear stop you.

You can’t swim for new horizons until you have the courage to lose sight of the shore. You can’t become all you are destined to be until you have the courage to leave where you used to be.

The great things of life that you so much desire is on the other side of fear, you need courage to go after and possess them.

Don’t be numbered among the fearful ones who neither achieve greatness nor experience defeat, who neither enjoy the thrills of success nor learn the lessons of failure.

Go out into the world, it’s time to start living. Face your fears, fight your battles, it’s time to conquer, that’s what you are made for, that’s why you are here.

Source:  MordyQuotes.

The way you speak to yourself matters. Negative self-talk can be damaging to your sense of self and overall happiness. And contrary to popular belief, it will not motivate you to do or be “better”. Here are several tips for changing your self-talk:

– Listen to yourself and the commentary that runs in your head all day. Get clear on what it is you say to yourself and how it makes you feel.

– Try speaking to yourself in the third person, or using your name to get some emotional distance from your thoughts. This may help you take your thoughts less personally.

– Question what you are saying to yourself: “Is this true?”,“Is this thought helping me or harming me?”, “Am I over-reacting, or being overly harsh?”

– Be kind. If you wouldn’t say it to a friend, don’t say it to yourself. Practice being encouraging with yourself, as you would your best friend.

Jackie Robinson #42

Jackie Robinson, the six-time Major League Baseball (MLB) All-Star and Hall of Famer, wasn’t just a pioneering athlete. His effort—and sacrifice—launched a cascade of human and civil rights advances.

Seventy-five years ago when Jackie Roosevelt Robinson started at first base for the Brooklyn Dodgers on April 15, 1947, he broke major league baseball’s six-decade-long color barrier, which not only made him an icon to those fighting for racial equality, but he was also a target for those who sought to fight against it. Jackie’s poise and strength—both on and off the field—are why he is honored today. He signaled to America that African Americans would no longer remain quiet and accept second-class citizenship status. 

“His courage and bravery played a major role in the history of integration, both on the field and throughout American society,” wrote Harvard historian Henry Louis Gates, “and no history of the civil rights movement would be complete without noting Robinson’s major role.” 

“Jackie Robinson gave all of us—not only black athletes, but every black person in this country—a sense of our own strength,” wrote MLB Hall of Famer Hank Aaron in his introduction to Robinson’s autobiography ‘I Never Had It Made’. 

Robinson’s strength was not only as a gifted athlete and fierce competitor who earned Rookie of the Year, MVP and six-time All-Star status. His strength manifested itself as dogged perseverance in the face of a tidal wave of racism—from daily taunts and threats to broad institutional inequities.

Robinson’s athletic brilliance and contributions to history earned him the Presidential Medal of Freedom and resulted in Major League Baseball retiring his number “42” in 1997—a first for any athlete, in any sport. 


Shortly before Robinson’s induction into MLB Hall of Fame ceremony, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. paid tribute to Robinson’s pioneering achievements this way: “Back in the days when integration wasn’t fashionable, he underwent the trauma and the humiliation and the loneliness that comes with being a pilgrim walking the lonesome byways toward the high road of Freedom. He was a sit-inner before sit-ins, a freedom rider before freedom rides.” 

U.S. Army

After receiving his military draft notice in March 1943, Army recruit Robinson reported to Fort Riley, Kansas for basic training. After racism initially barred him and other Black recruits from Officer Candidate School—despite their clear eligibility—they were eventually accepted.

But his time in the segregated U.S. Army would prove deeply frustrating. It ended not long after an incident near Fort Hood, Texas. In 1944, he was riding in a U.S. Army bus with the wife of a fellow Black officer. The driver, believing the light-skinned woman to be white, ordered Robinson to the back of the bus. Robinson, noting the fact that U.S. Army buses were not segregated, refused. The driver backed down, but called Military Police after the ride. Robinson was taken into custody and eventually court-martialed for disrespecting and disobeying a superior officer, disturbing the peace and drunkenness (although he neither drank nor smoked). He fought back and, despite false witness statements stacking the deck against him, he was eventually acquitted of all charges and received an honorable discharge in 1944, having reached the rank of second lieutenant.

Jackie Robinson Day

Beginning in 2007, players across the MLB started wearing Robinson’s No. 42 every April 15 in observance of Jackie Robinson Day, a tradition that continues.


References:

  1. https://www.history.com/news/jackie-robinson-life-baseball-pictures
  2. https://www.history.com/news/jackie-robinson-color-barrier-baseball