Land of the Free and home of the Brave?

Tempe Diablo Stadium backs up to this mountain, and when the national anthem plays at the beginning of every game, all activity halts, and a moment of silence prevails…but only a moment.

Today as I sit down to write, I am flooded with gratitude that we live in the land of the free, and the home of the brave.

What a cliche, right?  Sometimes it bothers me how little I acknowledge that freedom and how many opportunities I miss to practice bravery. And, honestly, I know I’m not the only slacking American here.

Ouch. I’m not trying to be a Debbie Downer, but think about it. What have you done to exercise your freedom lately? How many true acts of bravery have you participated in this week?

I’m not talking about the freedom to express your sexual preferences in public, or the bravery required to rescue damsels in distress.

What I am talking about is freedom of the mind, and bravery of the heart. The kind that gives us courage to talk to a stranger who is obviously down on their luck. The kind that sees someone stranded on the side of the road with car trouble, and causes us to stop and help them — even if it requires us to have some hard moments explaining why we are late to our boss because of it.  The kind that helps us hold our tongue when we have something less than kind to say about someone.

Just like this photo, we’re consumed with a mountain of other priorities, and the values that we stand for are just a speck of color in our otherwise drab world. Climb that mountain and grab on to something really important today.

Freedom of the mind and bravery of the heart are yours!  Act accordingly.