Author and holocaust survivor Corrie ten Boom learned a powerful...
Courage stories
Not in our school
A Gunn High School teacher got wind of Westboro Baptist Church’s plan to picket Bay Area schools. The “church” is the virulent anti-gay movement headquartered in Kansas and headed by extremist Fred Phelps. Their Web site is so hate filled I’m not even going to link it here. Look it up if you want...
Soaring on the wings of a story
The children from the Seattle hospital’s burn unit were brought in on stretchers and in wheelchairs. Some were ambulatory and pushed IV poles. The youngest was 5, the oldest 15. The 15-year-old was burned over most of his body. He faced years of skin grafts and a lifetime of unwanted attention from people who...
A launching pad, not a prison
Single mothers were rare among my circle of friends in Twin Falls, Idaho, but I was lucky. I got the best. Mother was a good teacher. Here are four of her lessons. 1. Decisions have consequences, for which I alone am responsible. I hit the “terrible twos” at the age of three. Until then...
No time to stand and stare?
A young man dressed in jeans and t-shirt lifted his violin and began to play. It was rush hour in Washington, D.C., on January 12, 2007. The metro station was packed with commuters. Over the next 43 minutes, 1097 people passed by. Most were mid-level government workers hurrying to their jobs. No pop music...
After Cancer Comes Joy
The New York Times has invited readers to submit photographs and brief stories that “Picture Your Life After Cancer”. The invitation reads simply, “For the estimated 12 million cancer survivors in the U.S., some of life’s biggest challenges and successes begin after treatment ends. Here are your photos and insights about life after cancer.”...
Are you free? The nature of freedom
[I subscribe to Lisa Bloom's Kachanga e-zine. When this essay appeared in the last issue, I asked her if I could post it here. You can find more of Lisa's blog entries here. I love it that the Web can link us around the world. Lisa lives in Israel. I live in Canada. We...
If you only had 37 days…
Between his diagnosis with lung cancer and his death, Patti Digh’s stepfather had just 37 days to live. The searing process led Patti to ask what she would do if she had only 37 more days. It was a tough question. As she says in an interview on Evolve, “The school lunches still need...
Celebrating love
On February 11th, Eva Dien Brine Markvoort recorded the last video entry for her popular blog (see below). Six weeks later, on March 27th, the 23-year-old lost her long battle with cystic fibrosis. Eva invited the world along on her journey. In her first entry, dated July 15, 2006, she was honest about her...
Days Like This…Words of Gentle Tolerance
When I was a child, I was fortunate to have loving adults like Mr. Brolly in my life. The warmth of this four-minute animated film from BBC Northern Ireland brings them to mind. I caught courage from them because they cared enough to share their wisdom. Today families are pressured to teach their children...
Celebrating gutsiness
There are so many amazing people in my life. Tatjana Bates is one of them. She’s one of those rare natural leaders. She visited here recently, and I got to thinking how plucky she is and how much she has done for the small community of Williams Lake, British Columbia. This little slideshow is...
Janet’s bad hair day
When our good friend, Hylton, sent the e-mail below, I had just been beating myself up over having accidentally ditched a presentation from my computer. (See Pushing On.) The story lifted my spirits so I was delighted when its author agreed to let me post it on Catching Courage. On Wednesday morning I awoke...
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