My husband, Richard, and I saw the recently released movie, “The Help” yesterday afternoon. Not only were we both blown away by

the story, the Oscar-worthy acting, the humor, the authenticity to the 60s in set (did you, too, notice the Charles Chips cans?), clothing and music, and the pathos, but we were brought up straight in our seats by the power of the movie’s (and the book’s) basic theme, that of courage. Of moral courage. Of courage in the face of dire consequences, including possible death.

It made us think . . . in our modern day everyday lives, when are we called upon to muster giant-size courage? What decisions do we make in our lives and work where we can tap into our courage to take the road less traveled, the unpopular path? And by doing so, what changes, moderate or monumental, can we bring about?

No only did we leave “The Help” satisfied by a movie masterpiece, but exhorted to dip into our own storehouses of courage to make things better.

Get thee to “The Help!”

No matter what your political affiliation, you gotta’ love Gabby Giffords right

now. And you gotta’ admire her new definition of “perfect.”

In order to register her vote on raising the debt ceiling and particularly to cast a swing vote if necessary, Gabby Giffords got out of her hospital skivvies and made her way from Houston to Washington. She appeared on the floor of the House of Representatives and cast her vote. She did this even though her condition was nowhere near perfect. She did this when she was not able to articulate verbally everything she might want to. She did this even when she was not able to string together every single nuance of thought that she could previously. She did this when her hair was short, short, short and nowhere near the longer blonde “look” she had sported pre-shooting.

Gabby Giffords ventured out of her hospital bed into the flashbulbs of the cameras when she was nowhere near perfect. And in doing so, she redefined what “perfect” truly is.