The definition of courage is " the quality of being brave; valor," according to Webster's New World dictionary. Now to different people, courage can have different meanings of what it is to have or show bravery. Some people show it through their actions, big or small. While other people will show theirs through the words that they either speak to people or write down for others to read. In reality, it does not take that much time to show your courage, sometimes, it just takes 20 seconds. If you watch the movie, "We Bought a Zoo," it shows people that sometimes all you need is 20 seconds to be courageous. Courage, or bravery, comes in all different sizes in our world and we can see it everyday, if we choose to see it.

Our actions that we make everyday can reveal the courage that we all have inside of each of us. Any one of us can be courageous through what we do, if we choose to. Now, our acts of courage do not have to be big, they can just as easily be the small things that we do: standing up for someone that cannot stand up for his/herself when they are being put down emotionally or physically. Helping someone who is in need can show your courage as well, because sometimes that particular person just needs a friend to talk to. There comes a time where we just need someone to be there with us that will listen to what we have to say or talk about. The courage in that, is to be that one person who will stay when everyone else leaves. Becoming friends with other people takes courage too. Not everyone is outgoing and social but being able to walk up to someone and talk to them when no one else does, can show courage.

Our words that we speak or write can be our way to show what courage we have hiding behind every single one of us. Speaking up against something that you do not agree with takes more courage than you may ever know but there are people who are afraid to speak their mind or what lies in their heart. So being able to say what you need to say can reveal your bravery. There are times when we are afraid to say what is in our hearts because we are afraid of the unknown, we will never truly know how people are going to react to what we have to say. Here is a part of a song that I wrote called "20 Seconds:"

20 seconds of courage
is all I need
to say what I want to say
to say what is in my heart
20 seconds of hope
is all I need
to find inside myself
that maybe it will go fine

Sometimes when we can't find the words to say out loud, we write what we want or need to say. I know it works for me sometimes when I write songs. However, everyone is different and have different ways of saying or writing what they need. We all just need to find the courage to do so.

How do you show your courage? Is it through actions, words, or both? And how much time do you think you need to show it?