Courage

The word courage has been thrown around kind of willy nilly lately. Apparently there are some who don't grasp the meaning of the word. The word courage means to be selfless to do something without giving regard to your life.  We have all known courageous men and women in our life.  I'm sure each one of us could name 5-10 people each without trying.
   I'm reminded of when I was younger. One of my all time favorite shows was Emergency. 7:00 on Saturday night on NBC.   I loved that show. I wanted with everything I had to be a fireman. All I saw at that time from watching the show was glamour and popularity. These men were heroes and people were watching and cheering them on. It was beyond amazing to me.  That fire burned in me for a long time.  Then a few years later as a freshman in high school our house burnt down. I saw these volunteers come and put their lives on the line to put our house out. These men were selfless. They weren't getting paid to do that.  I then knew that I wanted to be a part of that group of men.  My cousin was on the fire department that night our house burnt down.  I was way to young and had a ways to go before I would be old enough to join but I was counting the days
     I think I was 19 or 20 when I finally was a member of the Kennedale VFD.  Man was I proud. There was a lot of pride but not a lot of glory as I would learn.  Like any job you had to train and learn they didn't just throw you to the wolves. I got the chance to watch some fearless men which my cousin was still one. He watched out for me and taught me the ropes.  Being a fireman was more than a job it was a mindset. As I got older and received my training I was able to be a part of the offensive attack on a house fire.  That's when you don the full bunker gear along with SCBA and you are fighting the fire from the inside of the house. Let me tell you its exhilarating and scary. But your mindset tells you hey we are trained we got this. You don't think about all that could happen or maybe I don't make it home you just do it.  That to me is the meaning of courage. I have a good friend that I met when I was going through EMT training for the fire department. She worked at the hospital where I did my rotations. Kathy was a smart lady and got her degree in college. She used that degree to become a Fort Worth Police Officer. I did a few ride outs with her. She worked graveyard on the North side. That's not a great area high crime and gangs. One thing that amazed me is that when one officer called for help they all came running. They did not know exactly the situation but they were there for their fellow officers. That's my definition of courage.  I never will forget 9/11 the images we saw on TV officers and firefighters alike gave their all without regard for their own lives.  Some paid the ultimate price. My heart went out to them because down deep I knew that at one point in my life it could have been me.  I remember the one time I went down on a grass fire. I woke up in an ambulance on the way to the hospital. It was for smoke inhalation and heat exhaustion. They kept me overnight for observation. My mom comes in for a visit and asks me if I was done being a fireman. I said no Ma'am I'm not done. I can't let this scare me and I didn't. I spent several more years in the fire service.
    We have many courageous men and women giving their all every day for our country and laying their lives on the line. Some never make It back the same and most are affected by the results of it for the rest of their lives.  They don't brag about what they did. It's selfless and not about them. They are the definition of courage. So I get a little offended when I see our network TV stations praising a man who decided to become a woman as being courageous.  It took guts but not really my definition of Courage. I might be in the minority and might even lose some friends over this but that was not a selfless act.  It was done with media coverage via TV radio magazine and online.  He wanted the attention.  I just think and its my opinion that our priorities are way out of whack.
     Over the past week I've seen two great people taken by cancer. Exactly a week. These 2 individuals knew their time was short and accepted it. They made peace and died with courage.  That's one of the toughest things to face, death.
     Things won't change for us here in these times until we have the courage to stand for what we know is right. Yeah we will probably lose some of what we thought were friends along the way. Hey I had to unfriend one today myself. Anyone that slams Christians and claims to be one is no friend of mine.  These tonight were just a few examples of courage and I'm sure we could all name more. You get the point  . Let's show the world the true definition of courage before its too late
God Bless
Kenney Big Skinny Pope