Claire Fahy

Editor-in-Chief

All the movies we watched this year in Theology 4 shared a common thread: the idea of courage.

Through “An Education,” we saw the courage of choosing adventure over prudence, the courage of admitting when wrong and the courage of starting over.

“Step into Liquid,” a surfing documentary, showed a much more typical and physical type of bravery that one must possess when going to battle with the unpredictability of nature.

Even in “Babette’s Feast,” a Scandinavian film about two elderly sisters who lead a religious sect in an isolated region of Denmark, the courage of breaking convention presented itself through the housekeeper Babette’s determination to provide the ascetic women with a true French feast.

As illustrated by this curriculum, courage has many forms. While bravery is integral at every stage in life, it is especially crucial in times of transition. Whether it is embarking on the adventure that is sophomore year with its Symposium and introduction to Advanced Placement courses, gearing up for the madness of college tours and tough course loads that come with being a junior, preparing for the senior year application frenzy or readying for college, courage is a must.

When I was in the seventh grade, I sent a Christmas care package to a Marine stationed in Iraq. I used my pocket money to fill a box so full of treats and magazines and ornaments that it was too large to ship with the rest of my classmates’ packages and had to be shipped separately.

In return for my effort, I received a handwritten letter from Lt. Col. Nicholas Hale, carefully printed in all capitals and signed off with “Semper Fidelis.”

“I think you will find that bravery comes in many forms,” he wrote. “If you challenge yourself and those around you and seek opportunity in life in addition to having genuine care and concern for the people in your life, you will discover that you possess bravery in ample supply.”

Change is, quite frankly, terrifying. I was afraid of the change sophomore year would bring, just as I am afraid of moving to Los Angeles and going to school with 26,000 people after attending a school of 200.

But change gives us the opportunity to be brave, to find the courage we all possess and apply it to life’s many challenges.

We are all courageous, and as we embark on our next adventures, we must remember and embrace this.