Some people wear Grace, others Love, or Family, or Hope, and some nothing at all or something completely random. But most people have a word or an affirmation that they like to keep close to them, to maybe remind them what is important in their lives.
One birthday a good decade or so ago I got a tiny black bracelet with a little silver bead that said “courage on it. I don’t think it was given to me as a charm , it merely matched the necklace and earrings I also got with it. But over the years, that bracelet became not only a talisman, but sometimes even a lifeline. I didn’t start wearing it with special meaning either, it just always seemed to be the right “accessory” until I realized I always accesorized with that bracelet when I most needed courage. It has seen me through insignificant crisises like going to a party where I felt out of place, or anxious because I didn’t know anyone to a cross country move, and even transitioning from a singleton to a newlywed, that bracelet has given me exactly what it says on it- Courage.
It seems weird that I place so much importance on a few beads strung together but it is my private talisman and it reminds me what I value most in life, of how I want to live my life – I want to be fearless, I want a fearless life.
In 2007 a musician and a poet that I admire , Patti Smith was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Zach De la Rocha of Rage against the Machine introduced her with the following words –
” Patti once said, ‘I stand in front of a microphone, and I’m not afraid,’ and she remains just that, fearless. Fearless throughout her losses, fearless as a mother, fearless when she put the Bush administration up on the firing line for this illegal war and pulled her poetic trigger. Fearless in prose, and fearless in life…”
This inspired me so much and maybe thats why I cling to my little talisman because maybe I won’t be fearless in prose, but I can be fearless in life and everything it offers. Sadly my little talisman is dying, the elastic is stretched out to the limit, the bracelet barely stays on my wrist and I haven’t seen another one like it anywhere. However I did a little charm hanging from black cord (pic above) that can be worn as a necklace, so maybe its time to wear a new version of my talisman.
Orange You Grape 