Today’s mission is to find a word that starts with or contains, “val,” to use it any way we like, and of course to enjoy.
The first word that came to me was, valiant.
When I was still a child, probably and older child, I used to read the comic strip, Prince Valiant in the Sunday newspaper. It was a series that started maybe in the 1930s, and I think it might still be going on. Prince Valiant was around in the times of King Arthur, so there was a lot about honor and swords, chivalry and horses. I had a thing for horses in my late childhood and beyond, even to this day, so horses might have been part of the draw.
It seems I got a little bored with reading Prince Valiant as I got into my teen years and just started looking at the pictures as my attention became focused more on basketball and eventually boys. I don’t remember much about Prince Valiant, but maybe it set the stage for my love of The Lord of the Rings which I’m watching as I type this on Friday night.
The word, valiant reminds me of courage. Sometimes, especially in today’s world, we need a different understanding of courage. Being valiant isn’t always about charging in with swords drawn or guns blazing. As Yoda said, it’s not wars that make one great. We are now fighting an enemy that will not be killed with arrogance or belligerence.
“Courage doesn’t always roar.
Sometimes courage is the little voice at the end of the day that says
I’ll try again tomorrow.”
Mary Anne Radmacher
We now need the kind of courage that helps us stay put and wait. There’s a courage in patience, the courage to face what comes up when we are still – the demons and dreads that we may have been covering up with busyness. But we can have the courage to find healthy ways to wait. The courage to try new things, to be creative, to learn who we are deep down and not run away. We are finding the courage to love ourselves and others enough to wait and be wise, to wait until the coast is clear and learn from this time of quiet waiting, to trust the timing.
And then we will have the courage to be valiant in fighting for the health of the planet and her people. But first we must live to fight another day and in a new way.
I went looking for some visuals of Prince Valiant and found this cartoon from the early 90s which I don’t remember seeing, (I was pretty busy then) but now, I want to. Watching the intro, I remembered the characters. You can see LOTR similarities. There are some interesting names in the opening credits, like Tim Curry who was the voice of Sir Gawain. You can read more about the animated series, The Legend of Prince Valiant, here.
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https://lindaghill.com/2020/04/24/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-april-25-2020/
Here are the rules:
1. Your post must be stream of consciousness writing, meaning no editing (typos can be fixed), and minimal planning on what you’re going to write.
2. Your post can be as long or as short as you want it to be. One sentence – one thousand words. Fact, fiction, poetry – it doesn’t matter. Just let the words carry you along until you’re ready to stop.
3. I will post the prompt here on my blog every Friday, along with a reminder for you to join in. The prompt will be one random thing, but it will not be a subject. For instance, I will not say “Write about dogs”; the prompt will be more like, “Make your first sentence a question,” “Begin with the word ‘The,’” or will simply be a single word to get you started.
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Anything is Possible! 