The Optimism of Courage

The optimism of courage
Thursday, 10 April 2008


My job is to inspire others. I scour the Talmud, Bible and assorted periodicals to find texts, ideas and anecdotes that might inspire others.

But every so often, someone asks me, “Rabbi, who inspires you?”

Although I’m in the inspiration business, at the end of the day, I, too, have a soul that thirsts for inspiration.

People imagine that inspiration is best found among the learned and famous.

But that isn’t always the case. The talmudic sage Chanina said he learned more from his friends and students than he did from his teachers. My experience with inspiration is very much the same: it’s often my congregants and students who inspire me the most.

Joanne, the most inspiring congregant I’ve ever known, died recently. She was a young woman in her 40s who was hospitalized for most of the last decade of her life battling a series of ailments. She inspired me with her resilience, fortitude and good humour. But most importantly, Joanne taught me about optimism.

Joanne was relentlessly optimistic. In her years in the hospital, her cheerful spirit warmed the hearts of everyone she met. Hospital staff became Joanne’s friends, and she became their confidante. An orderly who’d lost a child to suicide found solace for the first time in years after speaking with Joanne. And throughout, her courageous spirit remained strong. When a doctor told her that she’d never be able to walk again, she immediately remarked, “Well, that’s what wheelchairs are for.”

Joanne taught me what optimism should be. Most people think optimism is all about the glasses – that is, either half-empty glasses or rose-coloured ones. Joanne taught me that optimism is much more than a positive perspective. It can be – indeed it must be – a defiant act of courage.

The optimism of courage goes beyond seeing the bright side of things. Instead, it sees humour and hope as ammunition in the war against tragedy.

All humans face the same adversary: the angel of death. Joanne heroically battled the angel of death with the only weapons she had: her smile and optimism.

Joanne had a wicked sense of gallows humour. Even while staring the angel of death in the eye, she could laugh. One day, in a heart-to-heart conversation, I mentioned to her that I had never before seen a case of tragic suffering like her own. A humorous remark or two followed, and somehow, by the end of the conversation, we were laughing together.

But these jokes were more than shared laughter. Joanne was actually waging war, laughing in the face of the angel of death.

Joanne understood the optimism of courage. She will continue to inspire me for the rest of my life.

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