What is courage?  What is bravery?

I think we can look at the example of James Crumm.  In case the name isn't familiar, he is the Wyoming college instructor who died after being shot by an arrow.  It is what he did in the moment after he was shot, before he died that make him extraodinarily courageous.

What he didn't know before that arrow, show from a high-powered bow, pierced his skull was that the shooter had just killed the woman that James lived with.  What he probably knew was that the man holding the bow was his son. 

James Crumm fought with his son and gave his students in the room the time they needed to flee, undoubtedly saving their lives.  Crumm and his son both died, the son killing himself after stabbing his father to death.  Medals and other awards for courage and bravery mean little to those who died doing the deed for which they were recognized.  But we can all respect and honor this man's incredible action by remembering him.  I know I will.

I've been putting off getting a new set of windshield wipers for too long now.  Oh, these still work well enough in even a heavy rain, but it's long past time to replace them.  Between that and some other errands I need to get done in the next week, I'm actually feeling a little overwhelmed and I should not feel that way.  I have enough time.  It would wear me out trying to do it all in one or two days but if I do a little each day it should be fine.  I suppose I procrastinate over these things because they aren't fun.  But I need to do what is necessary rather than what is fun more, especially heading into a new year.

It's a gloomy looking morning.  There's a movie I want to go see but I don't know if I want to go back out into the gloom later today.  But I know what will happen.  I will go.

No fun with Classifieds today.

This date in history:

On this date in 1804, Napoleon Bonaparte crowns himself Emperor of France.
On this date in 1823, President James Monroe delivered the speech in which he articulated the Monroe Doctrine.
On this date in 1845, President James K. Polk announced to the Congress that the U.S. should aggressively expand into the West.  History thinks of this as the start of "Manifest Destiny".
On this date in 1852, Napoleon III becomes Emperor of France.
On this date in 1859, John Brown is hanged for the raid on Harper's Ferry.
On this date in 1908, Pu Yi ascends the throne of China at age 2.
On this date in 1930, President Hoover asks Congress for a $150 million stimulus spending program to create jobs and stimulate the economy.
On this date in 1947, rioting broke out in Jerusalem in response to the UN's plan to partition Palestine.
On this date in 1954, the U.S. Senate votes 65 - 22 to condemn Senator McCarthy for his conduct in the "Red scare".
On this date in 1970, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency began operations.
On this date in 1982, Barney Clark becomes the first person to receive a permanent artificial heart.
On this date in 2001, Enron filed for bankruptcy.