V is for Valor

A to Z Challenge letter V today. And the theme, valor.

Valor. A quality of being that transcends physical strength, or mental prowess; a courageousness of spirit encompassing both pride and humility, honor and compassion, a willingness to do what is right at personal expense.

A soldier who takes a bullet to save a buddy, a policewoman who puts herself between an abusive drunk and his traumatized victim, a nine-year-old boy who submits to the strap after he admits to breaking the vase his two-year-old sister knocked over because he knows she's still bruised from the last beating. A grandmother who attracts the snarling pit bull's attention to give her grandchild time to get inside the house. Valor in action. Valor is action.

Size, gender, race, religion have no bearing on valor. It's a quality anyone can cultivate. A few do.

Today's blog is dedicated to those who do...

Firefighters, police, EMTs; teachers, mothers, fathers, soldiers; doctors, sisters, brothers, husbands, wives; pilots, nurses, veterinarians; birthmothers, daughters, sons; anyone and everyone who has sacrificed sleep, food, safety, limbs, lives; anyone who has put another's well-being ahead of their own, I salute you.

Valor does not require big action; it only requires action.

Deborah

To see what is right, and not do it, is want of courage. ~Confucius