What courage means to me..

Courage is characterized as being one of the most difficult traits to be earned. Yes, earned, I believe courage cannot be taught it must be experienced. I don’t know many people who live a courageous life besides my military father. To him it is the guiding force to how he lives his life. My fathers military journey began after he had dislocated his knee from his femur during his final high school football game. My father felt hopeless, because he lost his scholarship to compete in college. He then chose to get an education and then enlisted in the Navy. Even to this day my father has endless stories to tell, each of which never ceases to amaze me. My father speaks of war and gruesome battles where he was required to think fast and remain courageous no matter the situation. I aspired to be just like my father.

To my father courage was his source of survival, by overcoming the fear of war and battles my father developed a sense of courage and faith I’ve never seen in anyone to this day. Courage isn’t a trait limited to the military, but it is taught in the military. To the armed forces without courage you will not react to the battlefield, you will remain stunned without reaction. Although, I have never experienced anything quite like the military, there are times when courage kept me alive.

I am a long distance runner. My sport wasn’t just an activity to me, it was my life. My junior year I became unexpectedly sick, not knowing what to do I followed my military fathers example and pushed through. I became more and more sick. My running career was done, or so I thought. No one realizes how difficult courage is to maintain, until it comes to that moment when you need it. With the help of my father and my faith, I restored my health and became stronger than ever. I was coming back, but was scared to push myself. My father encouraged me everyday to help me overcome my fear. It wasn’t until my second winter track meet this year that my breathing began to shorten and all I wanted to do was to slow down, but a voice in my head overid my doubts and I continued to strive for excellence. That race I PR’d by almost a full minute. Most focus on the trials that my father and I experienced, but in fact it was the journey of recovery and courage that deserves all the praise.

Every day I aspire to me like my military father, the qualities that make my father him, have carried me on to build me up to become a woman of discipline and courage. With all the long nights, the pain and the heartache have propelled both me and my father to continue to fight for our dreams no matter the circumstance.