Dash of Courage: 220 Words

"The world is changed by your example, not by your opinion"-Paulo Coelho

I spoke in Texas this week and had a chance to visit The Alamo.

It turns out, 220 words changed history.

The Alamo is the site in 1836 where roughly 200 Texans faced off against 2,000 Mexican soldiers for 13 days. The Texans were outmanned, outgunned, and running out of everything.

There was a 26 year old named Willaim Barrett Travis.

Surrounded
Outnumbered
No reinforcements coming.
He pulled out a pen.

He had every reason to stay quiet. To surrender. To wait.
Instead he sat down and wrote a letter.
Not to his commander.
Not to one person.

He addressed it "To the People of Texas and All Americans in the World"
It was 220 words. Shorter than this newsletter.

Signed: Victory or Death.

That letter was carried 70 miles on horseback through enemy lines. Local publishers printed 700 copies. It spread to newspapers across Texas, Boston, New York, and eventually Europe.

220 words inspired a nation. Volunteers gathered from across the country. Those volunteers formed the core of the army that won Texas its independence 6 weeks later.

Here's the part I keep thinking about:
Travis was 26. He didn't know if anyone would read it. 
He didn't know if anyone would come.

He sent it anyway.

The moment a 26 year old decided that his voice mattered enough to use it, even when the odds said it didn't. We all have a version of that letter sitting inside of us.

Dash of Courage
This next week, Send It.

The one you've been drafting in your head.
The conversation you've been rehearsing but never saying
The email you've been typing but never sent.

It doesn't have to be perfect.
It just has to leave your hands.

A 26 year old didn't change history by thinking about writing a letter.
He changed it by sending one.

Courage over Comfort,
Garrett