Key ideas
How do you summon your courage when everything seems hopeless? How do you gain the strength to keep fighting when all your efforts seem to be in vain? Learn from Harriet.
- Around 120 years ago, a young woman freed herself from slavery. However, when Harriet Tubman crossed into the free lands of Pennsylvania, she knew her own freedom wasn’t enough — she was compelled to help others attain their freedom.
- For the next 11 years, she crossed back into the hell she had escaped over and over again. She ultimately rescued around 70 enslaved people.
- Most of us in the modern world won’t endure conditions as horrific as Harriet and other enslaved people faced. Nonetheless, we face a set of challenges that are unprecedented in human history, from the decline of democracy to the existential threat of climate change.
- Whenever we feel dejected or lost by the weight of the difficulties we face, we can channel the strength of those who came before to meet what lies ahead. We can learn from Harriet and countless other brave souls who paved the way for our efforts today.
Transcript
Around 120 years ago, a young woman freed herself from one of the worst imaginable fates: being enslaved by another person. Slipping out into the wilderness in the dead of night, she fled her enslavers, running from a nightmare without end towards a dream of freedom. With support from the Underground Railroad, she evaded slave catchers, their dogs, and countless other perils, hiding by day and traveling by night. When she finally crossed the border into the free lands of Pennsylvania, she felt a sense of relief. However, her relief was short-lived. She soon realized that her own freedom wasn’t enough — she was compelled to help secure freedom for others living in slavery.
She then spent the next 11 years crossing back into the hell she had escaped over and over again to help other enslaved people enjoy the freedom she had gained. She ultimately rescued around 70 enslaved people, including many members of her family that she had left behind.
Harriet Tubman was a human of epic proportions, achieving feats that rival those of mythical heroes. Her resolve, strength, and courage are legendary. Frederick Douglass, a fellow abolitionist and former enslaved person, said of Tubman: “I know of no one who has willingly encountered more perils and hardships to serve our enslaved people than [she has].”
Regardless of where we live today or where our ancestors come from, her story can serve as a powerful inspiration, demonstrating the heights of courage in the face of extreme danger and difficulties. However, there were countless enslaved people whose stories we’ll never know. While we don’t know their names, their collective story is one of facing impossible odds, of surviving the worst imaginable circumstances.
Harriet Tubman is the visible face of heroism — a liberator looking the devil in the eye and refusing to back down. The countless other enslaved people in America’s history are the unseen faces of courage. Theirs are the unheard voices that quietly passed on wisdom and resolve from one generation to the next despite being in a hopeless situation with no end in sight — holding only the faintest light of hope for themselves. As the threats to freedom for Black Americans changed over the decades, each new generation found ways to keep that fire lit and to continue standing up to oppression and injustice.
Courage, hope, and resolve have many faces. I believe that yours is one of them.
This episode is the first in a series that will look at various perspectives on building and maintaining our courage — even, if not especially, in the face of hard times. What can we learn from stories of impossible adversity, of people living through hell? How can we still find hope where hope seems like a naive fantasy?
As a species, we currently face a set of challenges that are unprecedented in human history. Threats like climate change, war on a massive scale, racial injustices, upheavals from technology, the erosion of human rights, and the devastation of the natural world threaten the foundations of our societies. Countless humans and other living beings will experience tremendous suffering if we fail to address these threats.
And currently here in America, we are experiencing the first waves of a steady dismantling of democracy. The impacts have already been devastating for many of us who have been serving the U.S. government in the Agency for International Development and many other federal workers and contractors. Programs that save lives, support democracy, promote economic opportunity, and protect natural resources around the world have been wiped out overnight. The shockwaves of this senseless destruction have already caused massive harm to people around the globe, and will no doubt continue to create suffering.
Without a doubt, we’ve got our work cut out for us. We can use all the help we can get.
We have the benefit of being able to learn from the many courageous people who came before us and faced impossible odds, helping provide many of the benefits we enjoy today. We can learn from those who lived through horrendous wrongs and still managed to pass along their stories, lessons, and values — even if only tattered fragments managed to survive.
We can channel the strength of those who came before to meet what’s ahead.
Harriet Tubman, standing barely five feet tall (or 1.5 meters to folks outside of the U.S.), looked the devil in the eye over and over again in the hell she had escaped. She was determined to help others gain the freedom she had attained. Her divine purpose gave her the courage to risk her own safety and freedom.
When fear and frustration rise inside our hearts and minds, we can picture the face of Harriet — and let that give us courage. Whatever freedom we have today, we can help ensure that others are also free, now and in the future.
Join me again next week as I dive into some more perspectives from around the world on building hope and resolve in the face of our adversities.
Let’s tackle this together. Until the next time, be well.
Podcast soundtrack credit:
Our Story Begins Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/