Bravery

On several occasions, people have told me how brave I am for moving to Missouri. True, I didn’t know anyone, had never been here before, was starting a new job, and was 900 miles away from family and friends. To many, this constitutes bravery. I always just felt like I was doing what I had to do.

Last Tuesday night I went to a going away party for a friend who is moving to Africa. Africa. She has joined the Peace Corps, and will spend the next 2 years tending to sheep and goats in the town of Niamey, Niger.

Let’s take a moment to compare: I moved to another state; she is moving to another continent. And she’s committed to two years; I knew that my time here was a limited engagement if need be – I only had to survive until the end of the school year. Most importantly, she is choosing to do this. I didn’t really choose to start my life after college in Missouri. I needed a job and I needed to start my career, and Missouri was the only option at the time, so that’s where I went. My friend, however, doesn’t need to go to Africa. She has a job, a home, a life, right here. But she made a conscious choice to devote the next 2 years of her life to the completely unknown and unfamiliar. That, to me, is true bravery.