Malcolm Gladwell

Tyler Tankersly sent me a quote from Malcolm Gladwell on Facebook this week:  "Courage is not something that you already have that makes you brave when the tough times start.  Courage is what you earn when you've been through the tough times and you discover they aren't so tough after all."   Malcolm, baby, you penned that one right in a new setting for me!  I am headed to Hastings to check out his five books including "David and Goliath".

Gladwell writes for the New Yorker and uses the areas of sociology and psychology to explain why some people make it and some people roll over and die when faced with upheaval.  He talks about the true meaning of advantages and disadvantages citing the fact that 12 of 44 US presidents lost their fathers when they were young.  Gladwell has the insight to latch on to connections that other authors pass over.

But to get back to his quote,  I think he's right.  I think of the courage of my mother as she dealt with problems that come with living and raising children.  Few pictured her as a suffragette or a pioneer in standing before crowds and swaying their opinions.  Nor would that have been a goal for her!  But in her way, she gave her quiet strength to everyone who sought her opinion or help.  She had been through the mill herself and she knew that one could emerge intact.  She was my living proof!  She taught me, by example, that one could overcome the world if that one would just stay the course! 

  

Malcolm Gladwell