It’s week nine of our fifty week calligraphy challenge and the prompt was “loose goosey” or anything to do with travel, adventure, structure or no structure. I decided to play with black inks and just a touch of red. The background of random lines and splotches was created using a fine line applicator loaded with ink. I utilized painter’s tape to create the blank white areas, and the eye dropper in the red ink to make bigger splatters. This is about as loose goosey as I have ever been.
I am reading To Kill a Mockingbird for about the fifth time and this quote stuck out for me. The father character, Atticus Finch, is speaking to his daughter about courage. I thought these were appropriate words for a prompt about being loose, extemporaneous and going outside the lines.
Being willing to do your best work even though you know no one will see it or care means to have courage. Seeing it through no matter what even when you know it will not turn out the way you want, THAT takes courage. Being willing to stand for what is the right thing to do in a world that has turned it’s back on doing the right thing THAT takes courage.
When we think of courage we think of hero’s, people who save lives or inspire others, we rarely think about the things we do on a daily basis that require courage. Sometimes it is the small things, asking the question no one wants to ask, or bringing up the uncomfortable topic simply to get the ball rolling. Being courageous doesn’t mean you will always be cheered on, it sometimes means you will be the one that makes people think. Courage isn’t the absence of fear, it is overcoming the fear and doing it anyway simply because it is the right thing to do.
I am reminded as I read this book that there is everyday courage and there is Atticus Finch courage. Not many of us are called upon to do what he did. I hope that if I were asked I would be able to exhibit the Atticus Finch type of courage. If you do not know what I mean, read the book.
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