"All Serious Daring Starts From Within" ~ Eudora Welty

Eudora Welty

To dare: verb: to have the courage required for; to confront boldly.

As Americans, we have tended to gain the reputation of being bold and at times obnoxiously so (unfortunately).  From all of our masked cowboy heroes to Rosie the Riveter, Americans have been fiercely independant and rushed to the rescue! (Cue theme music!) And although this is not necessarily bad, we must be careful to distinguish between rushing thoughtlessly into things, boldly declaring our independance and bravery, and taking a courageous stand wisely.
My fear is that, in all of this rushing, we forget that the true place courage starts is not in wildly running against the tide, but in the quiet conviction of our souls.  It is not courage to hot-headedly snatch up a lost cause simply because it is a lost cause and parade around under its banner like a little girl lost in her grandmother's clothes; that kind of thoughtless frenzy never accomplishes what we think or hope it will.  Rather, courage comes when what is GOOD and TRUE and BEAUTIFUL is challenged, and, from the quiet depths of our soul and thoughtful consideration, we stand up to fight for what we KNOW is true, and bravely defend it, no matter what. 

This kind of daring is what starts from within: the kind that works its way up from your gut and down from your head to meet in your heart.  It is my hope that, while we are in Turkey, my cousin and I will find and hold this kind of daring - this courage that radiates confidence and the desire to learn, to KNOW. 

As we begin to pack and start to plan, it is a bit daunting, knowing we'll be gone for so long, and feeling a bit aprehensive about being in a new culture (myself at least).  But I'm sure we'll have an amazing summer, and we're both terribly excited! 

On a funnier note, my cousin and I are both going through finals, and after a particularly rough one full of written essays, she says to me, "Well, it builds upper body strength?"  ;-) 

Anyway, until next time, Hoscakalin (goodbye)! (Ho-shu-ka-lun - first lesson in Turkish!)