The Bravery Question

Amy over at DiabetesMine.com has a post up today about bravery. It's one of those posts that makes me chuckle because I've had almost the exact same experience of frustration with a PWFP (person with functioning pancreas) who sees my ability to draw my own blood as brave. The phrase "you'd do it, too, if it meant staying alive" has certainly crossed my lips more than once in the past 20 plus years. Yours, too, no doubt.

Of course, it's nearly impossible to truly know what it's like to live with diabetes (and to understand that the finger pricks and injetions aren't always the hard part), so I don't fault those innocent euglycemics for their misuse of the word "brave". Before I got the damn thing, I was surely impressed with the kid at school who took shots - lacking information about what those shots were like, it struck me as pretty darn brave. And, as I commented on Amy's post, I do think it takes a bit of bravery to pierce the skin of your child's stomach, or to even fall asleep at night despite fears that their child's blood sugar could go low. I think bravery often emerges from the survival instinct - or the instinct to protect your kids at all costs. Think of the hero who finds the courage to run into a burning building to rescue a child. The every day bravery of diabetes is not as dramatic, that's for certain, but I think it's there, in quiet ways.

The post reminded me of one of my favorite quotes, “Courage doesn't always roar. Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying, "I will try again tomorrow.” That, to me, sums up the quality most needed when living with diabetes. The ability to find a way, after a day of unrelenting highs or vicious lows, to take the damn meter out and try again.

PS: I just checked Answers.com fpr a defintion for "Brave" and the auto-generated ad at the top says Walmart.com offers a wide selection of "Brave" for sale. In case you find yourself running low.