The twelve boys trapped in that cave in Thailand was so two weeks ago.

We live in this flash of news cycles. Endless, and every day it seems to get a little more surreal, it becomes oppressive, it’s a 99 degree July day, with 100% humidity.

I can’t breathe some days.

I want to scream some days.

Then I remember when we were all focused on those boys. What a complex and terrifying time and place, but it unified us, some of us, many of us.

There was a guy, this guy, Saman Kunan.

What a bad ass. What a hard-core bad ass.

What a spectacular human being.

Saman and the news of his death made me challenge and question everything I know about myself. What I like, what I dislike, what drives me, what I love, what I fear – I fear my cowardice above all else.

He made me face the image in the mirror.

Maybe, I’m sure, he had his fears and his cowardice too. He rose above it.

And, I’m not saying he’s all that unique. Every day brave people put aside their fears because the love they have for another human being or beings is greater than the love they have for themselves, their own life.

All I’m saying is in the face of this daily 24/7 News cacophony lets not forget that there are still guys, men, and women, like Saman. When it gets really dark and ugly and confused let’s not forget this man and the others like him.

The fact that we admire and honor and mourn the courageous tells me that we are all, at some very basic level, more like them, like Mr. Kunan, than those that make all the noise.

Quiet dignity, grace, and courage. That’s what I see in this man’s face. That’s what I want to remember. That’s what I want to strive to be.