Fear Part II

This past spring I went skydiving in Santa Barbara with one of my LA besties (Amara), and another good friend of mine whose name I can’t mention because he is a special agent.  My special agent friend carries a gun with him at all times, and I feel slightly bad a** when I’m with him just because he is.    

The day after we jumped out of a plane and plummeted 13,000 feet (i.e. nearly 2.5 miles) to the ground, I explained to my mentor friend Kim McManus I wasn’t all that afraid.  I told Kim, "I was more freaked out that I wasn’t freaked out."

Kim replied, "Well, that's because you're courageous Katrina. You're a courageous woman."  Perhaps, but I’m not THAT courageous.  I know this because I met someone this past spring who is far more courageous than me. 

Her name is Sabatina and we met up for dinner while she was in the city speaking at the Women of the World Conference.  Sabatina had shared a meal with Angelina Jolie, who also spoke at the conference, a day or two ahead of me. 

More on Sabatina tomorrow…

http://sabatinajames.com/
Sabatina e.V. provides assistance to Muslim women who – due to violence within the family, threatened, or already implemented forced marriage or honor killing threats – require the help of others.

But Aurora, Colorado...

My freshman year of college rather than going to Florida for Spring Break, I went to Aurora, Colorado to help build a house with Habitat for Humanity.  I don’t recall all that much about the trip except going for a run and getting lost, running 10 to 11 miles, rather than the 5 to 6 miles I had set out to run that day.  Today, while I was on my run (not getting lost) I considered how my college friends and I took time to build up the very same community a 24 year old gun man set out to destroy.  I’m reminded, every day we can choose to build up or to tear down, or to do nothing at all. 

I want to be a builder.