Stand Tall Amongst Giants

I've been really quite shit at posting these past couple of months and I'm going to try and improve at that, but this time I like to think I have a reason for it (even though it's more than likely I don't). So basically I applied for an internship with a magazine at the end of March, and if I'm going to be completely honest I only applied because my mum encouraged/forced me to do it. Oh and also I'm trying a new thing this year where I try to not be completely lazy, and it's actually working out so far. I got a job, a main role in my school musical, started guitar lessons (finally) and I got into this internship thing! Woo!

Anyway this past week I've been taking a tram and train into Richmond where the Jesuit Communications Office is everyday at 9.00am and I haven't been late once, which I'm genuinely astonished at. And I am so super glad that my mum "encouraged" me to apply for this internship as it has been an incredibly valuable and eye-opening experience for me. It has not only allowed me to have my writing published and printed in an actual publication but I've met and made 5 new friends, it has allowed me to star in a photo shoot ;) and it has most importantly re-confirmed my love for writing and my dream of becoming a journalist.

Each issue of this magazine, tries to convey a message through a theme. Our theme stemmed from a quote that Pope Francis said late last year (I think) "Ask God what he wants from you and be brave". This theme and the idea of valuing bravery as a whole has really got me thinking about how underrated courage really is. The only collection of people who tend to admire the quality of courage are young children, and even then the only thing they seem to be able to connect bravery with are the knights, super heroes and soldiers who roam their imagination. And I think that's a real shame.

Now I'm not going to ignore the fact that policeman, soldiers, firefighters etc. do not deserve all the praise they receive as the things they do on an everyday basis are absolutely incredibly and undeniably courageous but why should only one 'category' of people be known to embody the label of courage? Okay so say we take the definition of bravery i.e. 'ready to face and endure danger or pain; showing courage', clearly this doesn't exclusively include only those of us with guns in our hands. So then what about all the people who endure their own world of pain every single day? What about the people who wake up every morning feeling completely empty, seeing no logical reason whatsoever to see the light of day ever again? What about the people who go to bed without a shelter over their head and food in their stomachs? Surely that takes courage too? So why do we so easily roll our eyes at the small steps of bravery everyday people take on a daily basis? Why are things such as getting up and facing the day and not giving in, not considered courageous, or even important to any of us? The answer to these rhetorical, possibly pretentious, questions are that we feel like we don't have enough time to credit things so 'petty' and so 'unrelated' to anyone that it doens't involve but does that not give, the people at question, little to no reason to continue fighting their battles? I guess I'm merely giving credit where credit is due.