Be Brave

I saw this on good old Facebook yesterday while digging through all the news from conservation groups. Yes, Facebook is surprisingly good for that. But I digress. Saw this:

It made me laugh. It made me think. It made me...write.

Remember the movie Warhorse? I liked it alot, but it wasn't my favorite movie ever. There was one scene, however, that has stayed with me. I actually liked the way they used it in the trailer better than in the movie. The cavalrymen are about to ride into battle, and after a few brief instructions, their captain (or whatever he is called), gives them this one last order.

'Be Brave.'

I don't know why, but it ripped my heart out. In the trailer they use it twice, as if he calls it out twice with a slight pause in between. In that pause my heart stands still right before it gets whacked between the eyes again. I just can't put my finger on why I find those two words and the way he calls them, so touching. Maybe because you get the sense he is as scared as the rest, and this is all he's got. And that he is talking to himself as much as to his men. Perhaps he has a sense of foreboding that they are about to ride into an ambush that will decimate their numbers.

Be brave.

I enjoy listening to Josh Groban. I liked him after hearing his music on the radio, got a few CD's, then I bought us tickets to his concert one year as an anniversary gift for my husband. We don't share a wide range of musical taste, but since we both like Andrea Bocelli, I figured this was safe ground. I was blown away. Groban is one of those rare singers who is actually even better in person than on records.

He has a song called Brave. On days it's hard to get my heart and mind and soul aligned, I'll listen to that and it picks me up and throws me back in the ring.

Wake up, wake up, the sun cannot wait for long.
Reach out, reach out before it fades away.
You will find the warmth when you surrender.
Smile into the fear and let it play.

Chorus:
You wanna run away, run away and you say that it can’t be so.
You wanna look away, look away but you stay cause’ it’s all so close.
When you stand up and hold out your hand.
In the face of what I don’t understand.
My reason to be brave.

I find reasons to be brave. Little reasons, big reasons -  any reason, as long as it gets me on my feet and out the door. Groban also has a song called Love Only Knows.

Love only knows,
If we'll give in to fear
And live life undercover....

Yeah. I find reasons to Be Brave. My reasons will be different from your reasons. It doesn't matter. All that matters, in this world gone madder than ever, is that we do indeed......

 Be Brave.