I like to think of myself as being a strong person, a courageous person.  But sadly, I don’t really know that I am.  Last night I watched A Mighty Heart.  It is the story of Daniel Pearl’s disappearance and the investigation that ensued as well as a close look at how his wife coped, dealt, and fought to find out who was behind her husband’s kidnapping, all while 5 months pregnant.  I enjoyed the movie as I really felt like I was on this journey for truth and justice with her.  It was a very personal movie based on her personal memoir about the tragic event.  I know that Angelina Jolie–who played Mariane got to know her well during the making of the movie and by all accounts I have heard Mariane Pearl is very happy with the movie.  I am in awe of this woman’s strength and courage as she spent weeks not knowing the fate of her husband and having to trust the Pakistani CIS (intelligence) and others.  It is a raw look at what it is like to lose the one you love and to suffer a fate that no one could imagine.  She eventually in the end decided to watch the video of her husbands beheading as she feels she must in order to come to terms with what had happened and to move forward.  To be able to find hope.  She wrote the memoir so that her son would know the truth of what happened.  Her strength inspires me. 

Another incident of a woman’s strength is that of  Jocelyn who days before her court date for the adoption of her 6 month old daughter was told that the babies parents decided not to relinquish her.  I do not know the details of how her agency receives children, etc.  But I can only imagine how devastating this is.  I don’t know what I would have done if days before Minnow’s court date something would have happened.  I feel for her. 

Where do we pull this inner strength from? How do we make sure that we have it?