Table of Contents
Praise for The Courage Companion
Reality is sometimes a very hard place and that is why we need books like The Courage Companion. Full of great quotes, practices and inspirational stories, it is beautifully written and organized. I recommend this book to everyone who has ever faced adversitythat is to say, everyone. Read it, and keep on going.
Wes Scoop Nisker, author,
Buddhist meditation teacher, and performer
Courage is all about doing the right thing at the right time for the right reason, no matter how difficult. The Courage Companion is replete with such stories of courage and I highly recommend it as an enjoyable and inspiring read.
General William R. Looney, III, Retired USAF,
author of Exceeding Expectations: Reflections on Leadership
Unlike limbs and sight, courage is something that we are all born with. The Courage Companion and the powerful stories told within is an invitation to dig deep within yourself to find the strength you never knew you had and share it with the world.
Shawn Decker, recipient of the Courage Award at the
2009 AIDS Walk in Washington, DC and author of the memoir
My Pet Virus: The True Story of a Rebel without a Cure.
At some point in our life, we all must summon up our courage in order to face our fearswhether those fears are from such things as having to give a speech, embark on a new career, or face a dire medical diagnosis. Yet no one tells us how to develop courage, until now. In an easy-to-read format, The Courage Companion explains what courage is, how to get it, and provides inspiring stories from those who have it.
Allen Klein, author of The Courage to Laugh:
Humor, Hope, and Healing in the Face of Death and Dying
To my beloved late mother, Tomoko, who faced her
challenges with grace and fortitude. Mom, you were
the personification of courage and remain my biggest
inspiration.
Nina Lesowitz
To my mother, Isabel McMahon Von Driska, who taught
me by example that the greatest form of courage is to
initiate each and every action with kindness toward
others. When we think about doing unto others first, we
forget to be afraid.
Mary Beth Sammons
FOREWORD BY LARRY COX
The courage celebrated in this book comes in many forms. Whether a selfless act to protect others, a call to conscience, a fight against injustice, or a struggle to reach a personal goal, the human stories included in this volume inspire us, teach us, and remind us that courage is, as Winston Churchill said, the first of human qualities because it is the quality which guarantees all others.
In my work as a human rights advocate, activist, and leader of Amnesty International, I have been privileged to witness acts of courage by brave men and women around the globe. Many of these individuals burn with determination to stand up for what is right. They are willing to and often doendure arrest, abuse, intimidation, torture, even death to fight injustice and oppression. Often, these are bold acts of courage that make global headlines, like the thousands of protesters who took to the streets in Iran following the disputed 2009 presidential election and were subjected to terrifying assaults by a regime trying desperately to hold on to power.
Courageous leaders who have stood up throughout history to protect and advance human rights and principles inspire our deepest admiration. Millions have been inspired by Dr. Martin Luther King and the Burmese democracy activist and prisoner of conscience Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, whose story is highlighted in this volume. Their stories of courageous leadership are powerful examples of the human determination to achieve freedom and protect human rights. We owe leaders like Dr. King and Suu Kyialong with their unsung and brave followersour gratitude and a willingness to support, in ways either small or large, public or private, the cause that inspired them.
This book profiles individuals who today are fighting injustice amid threats, harassment, and violence. Their courage is often breathtaking. Women of Zimbabwe Arise, led by Jenni Williams and Magodonga Mahlangu, have been harassed, intimidated, beaten, and jailed by authorities for their fight against Zimbabwes worsening social, economic, and human rights abuses. Rita Mahato has been threatened with death, rape, and kidnapping to help women in Nepal who have suffered acts of violence.
Shadi Sadr, an Iranian journalist and human rights lawyer, advocates for womens rights and fights the practice of stoning. Despite her arrest in 2009 following the presidential election and the authorities closing of her legal advice center for women, she continues to espouse womens rights efforts through the website Women in Iran. The story of murdered journalist Anna Politkovskaya, who exposed brutality and corruption by state authorities in Russia, reminds us that the cost of fighting injustice may be life itself.
This book also calls attention to the quiet courage of individuals whose achievements, often no less stunning, take place out of the spotlight. They teach us a powerful lessonthat ordinary people whose names go unheralded can summon the courage and commitment to persevere toward a dream, help to right a wrong, or survive against odds. Their stories are deeply humbling.
Maddy Oden is a Californian who speaks out against the risk of inducing labor and unnecessary caesarean sections. Oden formed a foundation devoted to publicizing these concerns and preventing women from dying in childbirth after her only daughter, Tatia Oden French, 32, who was in perfect health and had no problems during her pregnancy, died needlessly with her infant child after she was given drugs to induce labor. Like so many others profiled in this book, Maddy Oden defines what it means to be irrepressible, resilient, committedin a word, fired up.
I have been honored to work with people who have dedicated their lives to advancing justice, along with political, economic, social, and cultural rights. Their work is essential. But the true lifeblood of the human rights movementlike all movementsderives from the power of ordinary people who crave a more just world and act with conviction to help bring it about.
This book shows all of us that one individual can make a difference, changing the course of their own lives or the lives of others through a willingness to take a stand, overcome fear, go forward and never back down.
Larry Cox is a veteran human rights advocate and executive director of Amnesty International USA
Amnesty International, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, celebrates its 50th anniversary in 2011. With more than 2.2 million supporters, activists, and volunteers in 150-plus countries, Amnesty International investigates and exposes abuses, educates and mobilizes the public, and works to protect people wherever justice, freedom, truth, and dignity are denied.
INTRODUCTION
