I'm probably going to overstep and get myself into trouble here Cam but I know you won't take it personally.
I wasn't referring actually to his courage to be in the boat. So I disagree a bit but I understand your viewpoint. Once he reached a place in his life where he could get back on that boat, Yes, he became just another sailor doing what he loved. However, I'm guessing he worked much harder than I did to get back into sailing.
As some here know, I do a lot of volunteer work so I feel a bit qualified when I say that I was referring to "courage" as am element of recovery. Any recovery from a life changing injury takes courage. I'd challenge anyone to prove otherwise.
Absolutely, some people embrace it and seem to excel at life no matter what the challenge. Other people struggle greatly and take a lot of extra time just to get back to any semblance of an enjoyable life attitude.
To recover from a life changing injury does take courage. To recover from a life changing injury and return to a physical activity that you love, takes even more courage! Not superhuman courage but it's very hard work and mentally and physically very draining.
Currently my Dad is struggling with the return of the effects of a spinal injury when he was young. He was struck in the back of the neck by a boom on the dredge he worked on. He had to learn to eat, talk and walk again after that but other than being deaf in one ear, he lived a perfectly normal life (continued to work on the dredge, on the sea as he loved). I was too young to even remember when he didn't seem perfectly able.
Now that he is aging, his body is losing the ability he built up to compensate for the nerve damage he suffered. His balance is faulty, he drags one leg when he walks and if you were to listen to him talk, you would think he had a stroke. However, he continues to do everything he used to do around the house, work in his shop, shovel snow and rigorously does his exercises to slow the progress of his symptoms as much as he can, knowing full well that they will undoubtedly continue to worsen.
The word "courage" (as I define it) applies to everyone I have known who has worked through injuries, great and small and I'll use the word proudly to describe my Dad.
I think Cam, we are preaching the same story. Maybe we are just both focused on two very different angles.
I hope my opinion is taken as open discussion. It is not my intent to offend, minimize or maximize for that matter.
