By our very nature, we tend to resist change because of the unknown future it offers. I’ve blogged about this in the past (Change Can be Difficult in Education – Well We Need to Get Over That) where I argued for the absolute necessity of change — especially in education. Not every child is successful at school — that must mean we need to be rethinking some parts of what we’re doing . We need to be better tomorrow than we are today. That takes courage.

Actually, any meaningful change takes courage — courage to do what we know is best regardless of the obstacles that might be in our way.

We’ve all heard the reasons for resisting change:

• “That’s not our tradition around here.”
• “We’ve always done it this other way.”
• “We tried that once 8 years ago and it didn’t work then.”
• “We’re already busy — we can’t possibly fit that on our plates right now.”

And there’s the rub. All of those statements might actually have a grain or two of truth about them. So what?

If we know we can do better then we will need the courage to fight through the negativity of others, the red herring arguments that are often raised against the idea and the obstacles strategically placed to block our way.

• Find the courage to find that space where change can get a foothold;
• Find the courage to withstand the naysayers who will complain it’s too difficult or too time consuming;
• Find the courage to work through the twists, the turns and the obstacles;
• Be brave!

It won’t be easy.

It certainly wasn’t easy for the Cowardly Lion to be courageous — the trip was long and arduous. But he went anyways.

“Everyone has talent. What’s rare is the courage to follow it to the dark places where it leads.”

― Erica Jong

“I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.”

― Nelson Mandela

“Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear – not absence of fear.”
― Mark Twain

“We can’t be afraid of change. You may feel very secure in the pond that you are in, but if you never venture out of it, you will never know that there is such a thing as an ocean, a sea. Holding onto something that is good for you now, may be the very reason why you don’t have something better.”

― C. JoyBell C.

Be the champion of tomorrow for the world of today.

Be courageous!