Dear Pneuma,
Suddenly, I do not believe in Superman. I do not believe in Wonder Woman, Mighty Mouse or even Batman. Suddenly, I've realized that true courage often means losing, failing, witnessing and being useless to change things for the better. I don't remember being taught about this in school. I don't remember seeing it exemplified on TV, and I sure do not remember seeing this kind of courage displayed by the superheroes of my youth.

This courage requires that I see injustice. This courage requires that I acknowledge my participation in injustice. This courage requires that I accept that sometimes, justice does not prevail. Yet, this courage also requires that I do not give up on justice. It also requires that I mourn at examples of injustice, and that I continue to speak against injustice, even when I cannot take action to avert it.

I have meant, in my life, to be a person of courage. I am finding that courage is more difficult when one cannot simply "come to save the day." We humans are complicated and interrelated. Every moment of our being impacts every other moment of being. Sometimes, that impact is a loss or a death; a destruction of some sort. I find I am cowardly in committment for fear of being forsworn, incapable or simply hypocritical.

I am praying, hoping, engaging in the idea of courage that includes this culpability. Wish me luck.

-Cobalt Dreams