Clara Barton

Clara Barton

Crossing the Threshold

Courage is to be able to overcome your fears, face them, and excel beyond them. Courage also means to go forth without any fear of what might happen. While engaging in whatever it is that you are doing, you will be able to continue on with confidence that nothing will stop you. To cross over the threshold, or overcome your fear, means to find your courage. Once you find your courage you also find the confidence to do great in anything you try to do.

Clara Barton was an extraordinary woman. She displayed a lot of courage throughout her whole life. Clara is a prime example of my definition of courage because she not only established The American Red Cross, but she also was out on the battlefield every day during the wars tending to wounded soldiers. The battlefields were rough and she was always facing the path of danger. There is one thing that I read that really got my attention as to how close of danger she was in, and it is also a sad one.

“As she knelt down to give one man a drink, she felt her sleeve quiver. She looked down, noticed a bullet hole in her sleeve, and then discovered that the bullet had killed the man she was helping”.

http://americancivilwar.com/women/cb.html

Clara helped out on many battlefields, but in her younger years, she was a shy and timid girl. She overcame this shyness with the advice of Lorenzo Fowler. He suggested to her that she become a teacher to get over her shyness. Clara was a teacher for ten years. She taught at a school in Massachusetts. When she overcame her shyness, Clara began to accomplish many things. These are things, which she might not have been able to accomplish while she was still very shy. I cannot imagine having the courage to do what she did every day. She was out on the battlefield in some of the roughest wars. The Battle of Bull Run and during the wars of Petersburg and Richmond are a few examples. She helped form daylight till dark...