Courage: mental or moral strength to venture, persevere, and withstand danger, fear, or difficulty

Looking at this Baroque notation for a dance with a spiral formation, I can’t tell if the dancers spiral inwards or outwards. The Library of Congress has this to say about Baroque dance:

“Baroque social dances were most often in the form of the couple dance, danses à deux, performed by one couple at a time. Unlike Renaissance duets that could be viewed from many angles, Baroque couple dances were designed to be viewed from the top of the hall, where the highest ranking person or persons (called presence) would sit. Opening and concluding révérences (bows and curtsies) were always directed toward the presence.”

When I think about courage and dances, what comes to mind most readily is the act of shoring up confidence to cross the room and ask someone to dance. In the Baroque case, this blushing fear of rejection is overshadowed by the pressure of directing one’s dance at only one or two VIPs, regardless of who else may be present.

An eye frosted with a single tear. I first saw a pixelated version of this image that made it look like a digital drawing, but hunting for its source yielded a clear-as-day photo on a Turkish site, dunyagoz.com, at the top of an article entitled “THE INVISIBLE THREAT IN THE EYE: LACRIMAL DUCT OCCLUSION”. This occlusion causes tears to be unable to leave the eye easily. Tears carry dust and bacteria out with them, and if they can’t flow, the eye’s defenses to the outside world are significantly weakened. So cry away!