What is bravery?

Is it starting alone in a new city away from home…again?

Is it calling people on the telephone and pretending you are more important than you are—or at least more important than you feel?

Is it striking up a conversation with a stranger? Or smiling at a stranger who won’t smile back at you?

Is it approaching a potentially homeless, potentially infected, potentially crazy woman who looks like she has passed out on the subway and attempting to wake her up to make sure she is not dead or dying?

Is it telling a guy in plain and simple terms that in spite of how nice he might be, you are just not interested in dating him (and even if you were, you would not intend to fill every waking moment of your life with his presence)?

Is it being unwilling to “be part of the group,” even if it makes you an outcast?