The other day, I started thinking about an old story from my childhood. It was one about my older sister when she was probably around 10 years old. Every single time she walked onto the school bus, a boy would smack her butt as she walked past. This was mortifying at her age, and she would come home every day crying about how awful it was.

The second that my dad found out that this was happening, he gave her some clear instructions. He said, "If that boy touches you again, look him right in the eye and say, 'If you touch me ever again I'm going to punch you in the face.'"

Sure enough, thats exactly what she did, and the boy never even looked in her general direction again, let alone smacked her butt.

And that's when it came to me, where the hell did that kind of courage in all of us go?

At first thought, you would think that the more you grow, the more you mature, and therefore, the more courage you gain. But I have seen the opposite in the people I am surrounded by, and sometimes I have seen it in myself as well. When did we lose it? When did everyone lose that fearlessness that we had as children? That "I can do anything" attitude. How about the courage to look someone in the eye and tell them you deserve better. And the courage to let go of the people who don't give you that.

This was when I was brought to another childhood memory. This one goes back to my barbie doll playing days. My Aunt came over as I was in the middle of a game. There was a barbie laying much farther away from others, so my Aunt proceeded to ask why I wasn't playing with that doll. I looked up, and said, "That barbie doesn't have kindness in her heart." Sounds stupid, I know, and sounds just like an innocent little child who probably just learned about it in school that day. But when was the last time you did that in your life?

All I am saying is, when I was a kid, problems weren't existant. If I wanted to accomplish something, there wasn't a doubt in me that I wouldn't. If I wanted to speak my mind, I did it. As we have gotten older it seems we've lost that something inside of us. Maybe it's just because we now know better, we're more realistic, or we are no longer ignorant, but I call BS.

Just because I now know better, and know that nothing is perfect and everyone has something going on in their life, doesn't mean I need to keep people around that don't treat me right. Just because I am more realistic, doesn't mean I need to be fearful of accomplishing something greater than I could imagine. Just because I am no longer ignorant, doesn't mean I should limit anything I do to what others expect of me, and it surely doesn't mean I shouldn't face every day with the same pure happiness and hope that I did every day I woke up as a child.

So maybe that's just it. Maybe everyone just needs a reminder of the kind of souls they had as children. Or maybe, we just all need to grow a pair, because life will just be a whole lot better if everyone gets their courage back and faces it in the right way.