Good afternoon everyone, I trust that all is well in your world. I note with a great admiration that Mr. Obama has succeeded where many previous American Presidents have failed, and passed into law a healthcare reform bill this morning. Congratulations to all of our American cousins, and to the future generations of Americans who will benefit. I also acknowledge that this uncharted territory for the US and her great people. I was struck then by the Facebook status update (cut and pasted below) of my 12 year old niece :

"FEARLESS is not the absence of fear. it's not being completely unafraid. to me, FEARLESS is having fears. FEARLESS is having doubts. lots of them. to me, FEARLESS is living in spite of those things that scare you to death. FEARLESS is falling madly in love again, even though you've been hurt before. FEARLESS is getting back up and fighting for what you want over and over again."

The words are from a young musician, not much older than my niece, Taylor Swift. (I had to look her up on Wikipedia!) Ms. Swift has written a very powerful challenge that all of us, of any age, would be wise to attend. Consider "fearless is living in spite of those things that scare you to death." We each face change, at a national, corporate familial or individual level most every day. Many of these changes require great courage. I have had conversations with everyday people who have lived "fearlessly" in spite of the those things that scared them to death. In the past 24 months I have met courageous people who have had the following experiences:

Learning they've lost their job
Learning they have cancer
Learning their child has been assaulted
Learning their child is dying
Learning they are moving to a new land, far from family and friends.

Each of these people was afraid. Each of these people had fears. And each one of them was fearless because they lived, in the grandest sense of the word, in spite of the sometimes terrifying presence of job loss, disease, danger, death, and transient work lives. Each one of them continues to laugh, continues to love and continues to be the best person they can be.

I hope that you have an opportunity to be 'fearless' this week, and to live this week with courage, dignity and love. And my our American cousins live fearlessly into this uncharted territory.