Brave doesn't spread hate or bully the vulnerable. Brave doesn't put greed and self-interest over millions of lives. Brave doesn't cower behind lies and walls. Brave doesn't pit people against one another. That's what fear does.
Interpretation
Bravery involves protecting others rather than harming them and standing against fear-driven actions.
In this quote, Kirsten Gillibrand defines bravery not just as a lack of fear, but as the active choice to support and uplift vulnerable individuals rather than engaging in harmful behaviors such as greed, bullying, or spreading hatred. True courage, she argues, stands in stark opposition to fear and the negative consequences that arise when people act out of self-interest or permit division among one another.
In practice
This quote can be used in a speech about leadership qualities in challenging times.
In addition to being an economic security issue, the failure to pay women a salary that's equal to men for equal work is also a women's health issue. The fact is that the salary women are paid directly impacts the type of health care services they are able to access for both themselves and their families.
We'd certainly have paid leave already by now, we'd have equal pay, we'd have a living minimum wage - a lot of things would change having that diversity of opinion in Washington. We certainly wouldn't be debating whether women should have access to birth control.
I'm not afraid of storms, for I'm learning how to sail my ship.
Having spent 37 years of my life in the military as a reservist, and never having met a gay in all of that time, and never having even talked about it in all those years, I just thought, why the hell shouldn't they serve? They're American citizens. As long as they're not doing things that are harmful to anyone else... So I came out for it.
We did not hesitate to call our movement an army. But it was a special army, with no supplies but its sincerity, no uniform but its determination, no arsenal except its faith, no currency but its conscience.
I am woman, hear me roar, in numbers too big to ignore, and I know too much to go back and pretend.
Deeply saddened by the news of the terrorist attacks in central London, the Holy Father offers his fervent prayers for the victims and for all those who mourn.
O God of battles! steel my soldiers’ hearts. Possess them not with fear.
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