Episode 107: Lionhearted Courage in Afghanistan
In this Weekly Yes! And podcast episode, host Travis Thomas frames the August Inspired to Give theme “Lionhearted” around a recent tragedy where two American cyclists were killed in Tajikistan. He invites Whitney Connor Clapper, a Patagonia employee who produced the 2013 Afghan Cycles documentary, to discuss how she and her all‑female crew faced daily Taliban threats while documenting women’s underground cycling teams in Kabul. Whitney describes the project’s origins, the legal ban on women riding bikes, the spring offensive security briefings, and the constant presence of bombings and surveillance. A pivotal moment occurs when a man knocks on her frosted‑glass door; despite fear, she opens it and receives a box of Kleenex and toilet paper, illustrating the choice to confront fear. Whitney reflects on where her courage came from— the solidarity of the Afghan women, a sense of purpose, and spiritual practices like yoga and breathing. The conversation expands to how lionhearted courage applies to personal and professional life, the importance of acting from a larger purpose, and a Pema Chödrön story about running toward a snarling dog as a metaphor for facing fear. The episode closes with a call for listeners to “yes‑and” their own fears with lionheartedness.
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And hello everyone. Welcome to episode 107 of the Weekly Yes! And podcast. I'm the host, Travis Thomas, the creator of the Weekly Yap and the creator of Live Yes! And. And today's podcast is in cooperation with our friends at inspiredtogive.org. So, today's podcast is for the August theme for Inspired to Give, which happens to be Lionhearted. And so, today's podcast is special in the way that we are— those of us on the editorial team for Inspired to Give, We came up with this theme of being lionhearted really in July, and not knowing at the time that this event was going to happen that some of you may have heard of. Late July, an American couple had been cycling through parts of the world— Africa, Europe, Middle East, different parts. They had left jobs in Washington in search of adventure, as well as wanting to connect with different cultures and humanity. And a big portion of their trip was about sharing how they were the recipients of kindness and hospitality and, uh, and just celebrating the goodness in humanity. Not that that was necessarily what their trip was about as much as sort of adventure and just sort of wanting to see the world, but that theme kept showing up in their social media posts. And then tragedy happens the last weekend of July. When we learned that the two of them cycling, along with two cyclists from Switzerland and the Netherlands, were killed in Tajikistan, of which ISIS claimed responsibility for it. And so, to receive that news, to see you know a couple and these people who were traveling the world, and in the spirit of humanity, in the spirit of connection, for for their lives to come to an end in this way hits some of us pretty deeply. And the tragedy of it all and the work that we're doing at Inspired to Give and me personally with Live Yes, And trying to celebrate the goodness in the world, but celebrating how we respond to adversity. How do we respond to tragedy? And I think in the spirit of Live Yes, And and Inspired to Give, I think we wanted this podcast for the August, uh, Inspired to Give on Lionhearted to be a reflection of how do we continue to respond and how do we continue to show up in the face of fear and struggle and challenge. So as easy as it would be to get knocked down and to stay down after horrific and tragic events as this, and we are reminded of tragic events every day globally, How are we continuing to yes and? How are we continuing to respond? And that's what we wanted today's podcast to be about. If you go to the Inspired to Give or inspiredtogive.org, our website, you will see a featured quote that we have for this month. And the quote is, there's nothing ordinary about decency, courage under fire, Compassion, tenacity, lionheartedness. And that is what is being called forth in a moment, a deeply mythic moment like this. That's from Dr. Martin Shaw. And that quote of lionhearted is what we're about this month— people living their big, courageous, and tenacious lives and how they are caring for their community. And with everything going on in our country and everything going on in the world, each of us are needing to connect with our own personal sense of how am I being lionhearted in my life right now, in my personal life, in my professional life, in my community? How am I living big, courageously, and tenaciously, not in spite of fear or the absence of fear, but in the face of fear? And so today's podcast is about talking to people who have actually sort of faced that fear. And for me, what is it like? How did you— how do you do that? Or how do you continue to do that? And so that's what we're talking about on today's weekly Yes Am podcast, episode 107, with Inspired to Give. We're talking about being lionhearted. I wanted to interview a friend of mine, Whitney Connor Clapper, who went over to Afghanistan with a film crew to shoot a documentary, and the constant fear of Taliban law, and that they were constantly confronted with, the very real fear of death and terror that they were dealing with on a day-to-day basis, and then one particular moment where Whitney had to stare fear in the face and decide what she was going to do. So I just knew I had to have her on as we talked about lionhearted courage and especially in response to this tragedy with these American cyclists. So without further ado, here's Whitney Connor Clapper. She's more a sister, but by blood we're friends. And she is Whitney Connor Clapper. She lives out in California. She's actually part of the global and enviro marketing team for Patagonia. But that's really not the reason that I have her Although we could spend a lot of time, Whitney, talking about being lionhearted, sort of from a Patagonia standpoint, but we won't. What I wanted to talk about was an experience that you had a few years ago with Afghan Cycles. And maybe you can give us some context a little bit to what sort of the Afghan Cycles project was all about and how you got involved, and then we'll get into that experience. So, A, Whitney, thank you for taking the time. I know you're on the 10 right now driving. But thanks for taking the time to join us today.
Great. Thank you for having me. It's great to talk to you.
Yes. Any excuse, of course. So how did your involvement with sort of the Afghan Cycles project come about?
Yeah, I mean, that's a story in and of itself. I had been working in the corporate world for quite a bit and found myself at the end of that. My husband and I at the time were looking to travel the world. He ended up instead of traveling the world, taking a job back with Patagonia in Ventura. And so we moved from Michigan where we were living at the time to Ojai, and he started as a sales rep for the clothing line. We had been with the shoes prior to, but he started with the clothing line. And I found myself going, all right, well, what am I going to do with my life and myself? And recognized that I had been in the outdoor industry For at least 15— well, 10 to 15 years at that point. And so randomly got a call one day from a friend of mine who was looking for someone to help her as a producer on a film project called Afghan Cycles. And I had no background in production work at all. She knew that I loved bicycles, and she knew that I am always about empowering women whenever possible. And she knew that I can keep myself organized. So I guess she kind of thought maybe I can wing it as a producer. So she invited me to go to Afghanistan on my birthday in January, and we ended up going a couple months later in April of 2013. And the premise of the whole story is that there— the bicycle is all over Afghanistan, but you only see men riding bikes, and it's actually illegal for women to ride bikes.
It's illegal.
It's illegal in a lot of cases for women to ride bikes because anything between a woman's leg is considered risqué. And people are often jailed, women are often jailed or worse in parts of Afghanistan. Yet we had a friend, a mutual friend of ours, Shannon Galpin, who had been doing work in Afghanistan for years. And one of the last times Shannon was in Afghanistan, she actually discovered that there's a men's cycling team as well as a women's. And it was definitely underground and hidden, and it was in Kabul, which is probably the more formative and accepting, if there was to be a place in Afghanistan that's accepting of women on bicycles. And her last trip, she ran into a coach and ran into girls on the team and recognized that there is There's a story to be told. And so Shannon organized a group of actually a full female crew, Shannon kind of being executive director, Sarah Menzies as the film director and kind of filmmaker, and then myself as production. We had a journalist come with us and then a photographer as well, and all women of varying descents and ages and all sorts of things. So, we flew into Kabul in April of 2013 and started work on what was to be, at that time, just a short kind of 20-minute piece, which as soon as we got there realized there are so many stories and there were so many different angles and tangents. And, you know, what, 5 years later, it just was released this year, the beginning of this year, as a full documentary. So, it is finally out. The story back then was a short 20-minute piece, and we were just going to do kind of a little storytelling on these women. But the thing to know about Afghanistan in the spring is that it's almost like an annual thing. Like, spring offensive is essentially when the Taliban have come— they are coming back into Afghanistan and down from their homes in the mountains of Pakistan. Pakistan. They've gone home during the winter. It's typically too cold to fight. And so Taliban retreat, they go back home, they reload their ammunition, fuel, spend time with their families. And then spring offensive is essentially when they kick off war again and fighting. And so we were landing in Kabul just as spring offensive was about to kick off. And so, Shannon, being a great leader, had found an interpreter and essentially like bodyguards for us to travel around because we were not just staying in Kabul. We were kind of going to some different remote areas and some were more dangerous than others, but that's where the girls lived. And we wanted to go be with the girls in their home, in their natural environment. And so this was all kind of part of the trip and the briefing on, you know, what to do and where to go and how to hide. And I mean, this These were daily conversations. And I remember getting to our guest house in Kabul and checking in, and then we met in the little kind of dining room in the guest house. And Shannon sat us down, and that was kind of our first really serious, like, we're in Kabul now, let's really have the talk. And she'd been kind of sprinkling us with information along the way, but it's very different to hear about The hypothetical and then get into Kabul and in a hotel and have to go to your room and check for escape routes and check for where hiding places are actually in the room and how easy can it be to get out a window. And that was just something that you did. And so we're sitting down and she's briefing us on spring offensive and how it could be any day now, it could be any week now that Essentially, the Taliban will kick off spring offensive with some major car bomb or city bomb or who knows what. But essentially, they'll kick it off followed by a press release where they're literally announcing it's time to fight again. And so, we were just prepping for that all the while it being so surreal because all of us are coming from— most of us were coming from the States. We had one from Colombia. But I mean, essentially, we are— not used to being in a war-torn country.
Right.
So we're having this briefing and we go to our guest rooms and we're kind of checking out where can we get out of the windows fast and which windows are open versus which ones are sealed shut and all of that. And we go to bed that night and things are fine. Next couple of nights, it's kind of the same thing. We start to interact with the girls on the T-cycling team and their families and I mean, they are lovely and they are incredible and they are so brave and they're really young and they're literally taking their own lives in their hands to be on a bicycle, which is ridiculous and crazy to even think about. And we're having incredible days. But there are things happening all around us. And you hear gunshots and you hear bombs in other parts of the city. There are these blimp planes that fly around the city that are basically surveillance and they're trying to— they're security. But the Taliban are smart and good and sneaky and you just never know what's going to happen. And we had a few days where we would take day trips out to different provinces and come home only to find that hours after we had been on that road, there was a car bomb or things like that were definitely happening. Around us. So it was a reality that we had to just kind of be okay with because we were there. And we definitely had one girl on the trip that kind of couldn't handle it, and she stayed in her hotel room the whole time. And that was her choice and totally fine. And no one— everyone understood. It was freaky to be out there. It is weird to be in a war-torn country when war is happening around you. Yet I think what kept us going, the rest of us, was just meeting these people and meeting these women and recognizing this is their life and this is how they do things. And you'd hear a bomb go off and you'd see someone still picking up pomegranates at the fruit stand. Life just continues to happen. So we'd been there about, I don't know, a week and a half or so, and things were getting— they are definitely heating up. By this point, spring offensive had officially been announced. There was some serious car bombings. There was another suicide bomber. There were a few things happening in Kabul where we were. And I should say, like, our guesthouse, our guesthouse has been known to house a lot of UN officials. So while it wasn't the U.S. Embassy, our guesthouse has definitely been a target in the past. And so that was also part of the briefing that, like, one, we're staying at this guesthouse because they're very accepting Of U.S., but 2, like, you know, it's something to remember. Like, this has been a target because Taliban recognized U.S. embassy members or whomever may be often stay here. And so there's one night where for some reason I think we're kind of— it'd been a while since we'd had a security talk. And so we're having dinner back in the guest house again after a day of filming and being with the girls. And Shannon's kind of freaked out. And I think she's recognizing that she's made a lot of friends in Kabul, and so she's constantly checking in with US Embassy members and she's checking in with kind of her grouping of people that, you know, she's checking in because of the security issues and just trying to make sure she's keeping us all safe. And she's recognizing that the, you know, the bombs are increasing, you know, Taliban are definitely in Kabul. You never know when they're going to strike again. Our guest house is been targeted. I mean, all of these things. And she's just like, she's not sugarcoating it. She is saying these things to our faces just to make us aware and keep us, even though it's been a great trip, remember where you are and remember that we need to stay safe and all of that. And so she's telling us this story. I don't know why she decides to go into this story, but she's telling us this story of a dinner where one of her last trips here— She was with some friends, journalists and that sort of thing, staying in another guest house down the street. And literally Taliban had infiltrated the guest house and they were going door to door and knocking on each door. And as someone opened the door, they would shoot you. And so Shannon's telling us this story. And so I'm like, okay, note to self, like, don't ever— You know, answer the door if someone knocks. And, and she's then following up by saying, so if any of us need to go to one another's room, because we're all staying separately— I'm staying with Sarah at this point, but we're all staying in separate rooms— you know, we have to have a code. And so we get our code and we, you know, align on that and, and we're all good. But essentially I'm like, okay, no way in hell am I opening doors if someone's knocking at my room. And so we eat dinner and And we finish up and say goodnight and go to bed. We have an early, early start the next day. And it's probably, I don't know, 8 or 9 or so at night. And so Sarah and I go up to our room and we're getting ready for bed. And Sarah's in the bathroom and I'm just kind of cleaning up and tidying up from the day and figuring out what we're going to pack for tomorrow and cleaning lenses and kind of the regular routine. And there's a knock on the door.
Oh, no.
And our doors are like frosted glass, which in hindsight makes no sense to me, but whatever, they're frosted glass. So like, you can see, you can see the outline of people there. And up to this, like, Sarah and I are probably being like stupid Latin Americans and singing like Britney Spears songs or something. Like, we're making noise. So they definitely know that we are in— whoever's at the door knows we're in the room. Um, and it's one of those things that as you come in the room, the bathroom's right there first, and then you get into the room. And so in my head, I'm like, okay, there's a door, there's a knock on the door. I've already made a vow, like, not to answer it because we've already talked about the fact that we're just gonna go to bed. So I know it's not any of the other women on the— in the crew. And I'm like, well, what the fuck? I mean, what do I do? Like, there's a knock on the door. I can tell from the outline it's a— it's a man. Well, or someone with really short hair, but it seems like it's a man. I can also tell he's holding something. And I mean, at this point, the heart is racing because we have just come from this briefing that you don't answer doors. And if you do, you're going to get shot by Taliban.
Yeah.
This is what we've just talked about moments before. And I'm sitting there going like, okay, well, if we hear a knock, we're supposed to get out of the room. And there's windows that I could jump out of, but I think we're 4 or 5 stories up, but, you know, maybe I break an ankle, but I could at least get out. But I'm also like, well, Sarah's in the bathroom, and I'm like, I can't leave Sarah in the bathroom. Like, so I have this like, well, what do I, you know, what do I do? And it like, it feels like it's half an hour of him knocking. Like, I'm sure it's not. It's probably like a couple seconds, but it feels like I'm in this like, what do I do? Uh, for a little while. And I get to this point He continues to knock. You know, I'm trying to do my best to attempt to talk to him, but clearly there's a language barrier that I have no idea why he's knocking. I have no idea, you know, why he's not going away. He's holding something. It doesn't look like a gun or an assault weapon, but still he's holding something. And I'm like, I mean, yeah, my heart is out of my body at this point. Like, what do I do? And I remember this moment of like, well, I can't leave Sarah. And so I'd rather have someone shoot me than, like, my— than Sarah. So I opened the door and this, like, kind, amazing Afghan man hands me a box of Kleenex and an extra roll of toilet paper.
Oh, shit.
And I've totally forgotten that, like, in the spring in Kabul, it is dusty, it is dirty. We're all blowing our noses. Like, we— I had asked for extra Toilet paper and Kleenex like earlier that day, and they just never got to it until like nine o'clock at night after you know all of this has happened. And so, of course, like I start laughing at you know my stupidity in some cases, and thank him graciously and say good night, and that's it. But yeah, so I mean that's that like that was a happy ending to it, but. It was definitely coming off of realizing just being in a war-torn country as someone who is not used to that lifestyle. It's a trip.
Yeah, and I'm sure if you didn't need the toilet paper before the knock on the door, you probably needed it after, right?
I asked him for an extra roll that day.
While I've got you here. So, all right, there's so much. There's A, You just summed up the entire trip beautifully, and in details and context that I hadn't had previously. So that was amazing. Thank you for just how thorough that telling was. And so, I mean, obviously, we have the incident of the knock at the door, but we also have the entire trip in general.
Yeah.
And just knowing how moment to moment, how real the threat was, how very real the threat was.
Yeah.
And so, where was that? You have a spiritual background. Where was that sense of the courage to be able to keep just doing the work every day, knowing the very real possibility of the violence that was going on around you? Where did that come from for you personally?
Yeah, good question. I mean, I think it was the peace of being around these women. I mean, these women, these cyclists were— they were college and younger. There's an occasional case where one was older. But I mean, these women were basically risking their lives and potentially even their families' lives, because if your parents let you ride a bike, like, you're in trouble too. So they're doing this every day, and they're recognizing that you know them choosing to be on the bike is is not a selfish act. This is like they are working to to like give women power again and remind them of their power. And you know Afghanistan, the history—I'm not totally as versed as I probably should be—but essentially back in the sixties, you know Afghan. Afghanistan was no different than the U.S. And women, you know, we were— they were walking around in pants and, you know, regular clothes, I should say, you know, regular in air quotes, like U.S. regular, just as much as we were. And there was, you know, peace, love, and freedom just as much as we had in the U.S. And it was— so it's been recent that, you know, basically women have been completely stripped of power. With Russia coming in and then us actually training the Taliban to combat Russia, and then Taliban realizing that the Taliban was now the enemy. And so, I mean, there's a whole history of— it's a recent history where, you know, women have lost their voice. And so I think it was through interacting with these women who were riding the bikes, who were also working incredibly hard jobs to take care of families, And that sort of thing, that like the peace came from being with them, which then fed the courage to continue to do this. And it's all of the fact that we were, we were working to essentially amplify and help share their stories, not in a selfish way, but from a way that like the world needs to hear that there are these freedom fighters out there. Because it fuels everyone else who's struggling with whatever it is they may be struggling with.
So, yes. Well, what it sounds like is, you know, it's— the choice is either to focus on the threat or focus on the fear, or to focus on sort of the purpose or the mission of what the work is or what you are being inspired— of what you're being inspired by. Because, I mean, as you tell the story, I relate with the woman who said, I can't handle this. I'm staying in the hotel room.
Yeah, sure.
But again, that points out, again, this idea of being lionhearted and being courageous and responding to fear and responding to adversity. If all you're focusing on is the potential terror or the potential fear, most of us will be paralyzed compared to focusing on Whether it's the work or the greater purpose or cause that you're there to represent.
Right. Yeah. I mean, I think that was it, is that the remembering to be afraid was an afterthought because essentially during the day we were in the work and that's what was in front of us and that's what mattered. And I think in some cases I'm like, well, of course the car bombs were there, but they were after us because it just wasn't That was not part of the plan.
Were there ever any moments during your trip, sort of, you know, maybe it's the end of the day back in your room where you're sort of debriefing or, you know, reflecting on the day where the fear would sort of grip you and you would have to sort of process it or pray through it or breathe through it? Or, you know, what was that process like for you?
Yeah, I mean, pretty much every night. I think when you're, you know, when you're on a high adrenaline sport or accident or whatever it may be, I mean, adrenaline carries you through, right? And then I'd get back to the room and you'd remember to take that breath and remember where you were and where you're going to bed. And it was like, it could be paralyzing at night because I could— my mind can wander like nobody's business.
Right.
So I could, I could definitely have this moment of like, oh my gosh, You know, after the guy knocked on the door, even though he was the kindest of men and offering me something I'd actually asked for, my mind wandered. And what happens with the next knock? And, you know, like, what happens if it hadn't been a guy offering me Kleenex and toilet paper? I mean, so I think there were a lot of nights where I would have to remember to come back into that place of, I'm here for a reason, and it's got to be bigger than the The fear of Taliban coming in and killing us, because that wouldn't have driven me to go to Afghanistan if that's what I was coming from. So I think there was almost a daily kind of check-in of like, okay, like, I will be where I need to be. We will all be where we need to be. Not that it's rare to have bombs going off at this time of year in Afghanistan. It's actually fairly normal.
But There's—
people have lived through it, and there's no reason that we need to stop doing the work that we're doing for hypothetical fear of a bomb going off on us. So it took a lot of breathing. It took a lot of— I did a lot of yoga in the room at night.
Yeah.
I did a lot of just talking frankly with our crew. And that's, I think, what I appreciated a lot about Shannon is that she didn't sugarcoat it. I mean, she was very real, which meant we could have very real conversations back and forth. You know, she— this was something like her 13th trip or 15th trip. She had been back to Afghanistan that many times, and she'd had a lot of crazy close-call stories, but she'd made it. And, and I just had this, like, sense of there's, there's a bigger reason why we're here. And so we will, we will, come what may, we'll deal with it moment by moment. And I, I didn't have that feeling that we wouldn't make it out of there. Or at least if I did, it was never something that lasted long. It was like a blip where I was like, well, that's— I don't believe that, actually. So, so I think there was a foundational understanding that, like, we were there and it was going to be an incredible time and then we'd go home. And honestly, I think flying out of the airport was almost scary to me because the airport was being attacked and it's such a small airport. And I'm, you know, by far the The minority and I'm a white woman. And, you know, I mean, it was— that was almost a scary situation because I flew out by myself and that's where I could let my hypothetical take over. Whereas I think with the crew, because communication had been so frank, if I ever started being afraid, I would voice it with the crew and we'd talk it through and it would, you know, it would dissipate. So I think there was— there was— there were always times to challenge my belief of where I was where I was and what I was supposed to be doing. But inevitably, the foundation I knew was, I'm here for a bigger reason, and I'm going to trust that and enjoy it and then go home.
Now, take me back to sort of the knock at the door specifically. I remember— I think I remember speaking to you possibly a few months after you got back from the trip originally. And I can actually remember where I was driving when we were having this conversation. And in regards to the knock at the door, you were, you were talking about sort of the, the, the fear of the moment, how gripping the fear was. But then you— I think the phrase that you mentioned that stuck with me was, I had to see what was on the other side of the door.
Yeah.
And tell me a little bit more about that.
Well, I think it was, you know, the fact that they were frosted glass doors and I could make out just enough, but not enough, that there is this sense of, I have only, at this point, I've only interacted with good Afghan people. They've been incredible, incredibly giving, opening to their homes. I mean, they have completely accepted us in when we've been the ones, like, probably killing so many innocent people trying to take on the Taliban. And so I wasn't sure how You know, these Afghan people would interact with us, and so I'd only I'd only had good interactions at this point. And so I think there was this curiosity of I need to at least know what's on the other side of right whether whether there's a hypothetical right right yeah yeah yeah that's and it's Yeah, it's, it's the Pema Chödrön, like, you know, it's facing the dog, right? It is like you need to at least know what, what's happening. Um, and yeah, and then you, then you take in that next moment once you open the door.
Right. But, but, but I need— yeah, but I need to face this fear and actually see what, what, what is the threat I'm dealing with.
Yes. Yeah, because it's hype, because it's— yeah, I can see enough through the frosted glass But you obviously can't see— I can't see exactly. If I had known that it was a box of Kleenex in his hand, of course, I would have opened the door a lot earlier. But yeah, so I just needed to see what was on that other side.
I love that. Yeah, that's powerful. That is the lionhearted courage, you know, in the face of fear, not with the absence of it. And so, not to, you know, just to transition, I guess, maybe a little bit. Whitney, how does this show up in your personal/professional life? Again, not to get into the specifics of your work with Patagonia, but this sense of courage in the face of adversity, how do you see it showing up just in your personal and professional life right now?
How much time do you have?
Not enough, unfortunately.
I mean, it's a daily occurrence, right? I mean, we have, we have a new administration. I shouldn't say new anymore, but I want to believe it's new because it's— but yeah, I mean, that, that in my life at work, that's a daily— it's a daily interaction. Obviously not person to person through frosted glass, but there's a lot of frosted glass that I can't quite get to the other side to see what's actually on there. But there's a lot of— I think ultimately it's recognizing— well, let me back up. I mean, elections happened, right? And I think we spent— it feels like we collectively spent a year going, did that just happen? Like, that can't be it. That didn't happen. That didn't happen. You know, and kind of thinking it was all a dream. And now we're in our second year and I feel like people are ready to To do something about it. And I feel like we're ready. You know, we spent the first year like debating about whether we should open the door and thinking like maybe he would go away if we, if we just didn't respond and didn't open the door. And now we're in the like, okay, we're gonna open the door this year. And I think that will be done in some cases through midterm elections. But I also feel like I don't, I don't think that's going to do as much as we want it to do. I think it's going to be in the like we all have to open our own doors. And that there's actually a groundswell of courage to start opening these doors and really look at the face of who's on the other side. And so, to me, like, the daily interaction with that is that I recognize wholeheartedly that it's coming back to that foundation. And in the foundation of Afghan Cycles, the foundation was the fact that I knew we were there For a bigger reason. And I was going to trust that even though I didn't know what the next moment held. And it's the same sort of thing where I genuinely feel like there's a groundswell of movement. We are all kind of being positioned for whatever it is that comes next. And once we get that tap on the shoulder to open the door, we better open the door. And so I think I see this in a regular basis, whether it's at work working with different personalities or whether it's reading the news and jumping on Twitter. I think it's all in how we choose to respond, but if we're not working from that foundation, don't answer the door. If you're working from the foundation, you better open the door. Right.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah. And clearly, like you've mentioned before, that When the reason you're opening the door is because of something so much bigger than yourself, and that it's not about you. You even said, if opening the door, I would rather get shot instead of Shannon, which that statement in itself is just incredibly courageous and obviously selfless. So I think it is that That graciousness, that selflessness that is so inspiring to see people like yourself, Shannon, all these people that are about sort of really very practically putting their lives on the line for something that's bigger than themselves.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And I think it's consistent work that you can't— from the wrong foundation, you're going to exhaust yourself and it's not sustainable. And so, like, you also have to work from that right foundation in order to keep going. So I think I'm personally feeling that this year where I felt more frantic last year and felt more like, you know, the side of the door that I hadn't yet found the courage to open the door. I kept— I was in that space last year and I feel more grounded and comfortable and actually, you know, Opening the door is less scary when you're coming from that foundation too. It's actually a hell of a lot easier because you're, you know, it's facing, it's facing the fear. Like you said, it's facing the hypothetical and then recognizing that your hypothetical is actually scarier than what's on the other side of the door.
Right.
But it is that kind of moment by moment, bird by bird type of concept.
Yeah. I love it. Well, you continue to inspire me, sister, with the work that you've done and the work that you continue to do. And I'm so grateful for you taking the time on your trip on the 10 to, uh, to share your experience with everyone here on, uh, the Weekly Yes Am podcast and Inspired to Give. So thanks so much, Whitney.
My gosh, thank you, man. Appreciate all the work you're doing too.
So that was Whitney Connor Clapper, who works for Patagonia but sharing her story from 2013 when she was helping the Afghan Cycles crew I'm going to include some links to their page, to that documentary, which is a must-see for sure, and some of that work that Whitney was a part of during this experience. I also want to reference that on Inspired to Give right now, we have a great article about the Euphrates Institute. Janessa Ganz Wilder, who is another good friend of mine, started the Euphrates Institute with her work in the Middle East and across the world. Turning the Other into Your Brother, which is all about, again, bringing peace. And they have chapters all over the world. And we have an article about the chapter in the Congo holding a concert recently to help deal with fear and ignorance around certain issues around prejudice. And so, that article is on the Inspired to Give website. And I want to share that during the interview with Whitney, I think the audio might have got cut off there for a second, but what she was referring to is actually one of my favorite stories of all time. Pema Chödrön, she's an American Buddhist monk. She's written numerous books, of which I highly recommend. She was sharing the story of either her master or her master's master. It was during— I want to say it was in China during wartime, and the monks were being removed They were being moved from one monastery to another monastery. And along the road that they were being moved by, there were intimidating soldiers with guns and then with dogs on chains, these vicious dogs that were on chains. And the Master talks about as you're walking by these dogs, they're just lunging for you. They've got foam out of their mouth. Their eyes are blue with—
Evil.
With anger. And they're sort of shuffling down the road trying to get to the next gated area. And the master tells that while they're going, they're shuffling down the road, they hear kind of a snap in a chain, and they look back and one of the dogs has broken free. And so, all the monks take off running. They're running for the gate. They're running for protection. And so, they're all running, but the one master realizes— There's no way we're going to be out— we're going to be able to outrun this dog. So in that moment, that master turns around and begins running directly at the dog. He runs at the dog, and the dog's running at him. He's running directly at the dog. And right as they get at that meeting point, the dog stops, pauses, and then sits and just is completely immobilized. Just the anger, everything just falls away from that dog, and it was just putty. In that monk's hand. And so, Pema Chödrön uses that idea, that analogy of running at the dog, running at the fear in our lives, instead of running away from it, where if we check our shoulder, it's always going to be a step behind us because we're just not addressing it. When we turn and face it and run at it, we totally diffuse its power, its fear, even if, you know, even if there is— Harm to us in the process, but we're choosing to run through the fear instead of running away from it. And when we listen to— when I listen to Whitney's story today and getting details that I didn't get in 2013 from her, I'm just, you know, seeing over and over again how she was continuously running at the dog. So, so inspiring. Well, there you have it. That is episode 107 of the weekly Yes Am podcast and the Inspired to Give podcast. All on this idea of lion-hearted courage. So my question for you: take this idea of yes and. How are you yes anding the fear in your life, in your personal life, in your community? How are you yes anding it with lion-hearted courage? And even the smallest act of courage can have a huge impact on the world. So thanks, everybody. Have a wonderful, wonderful yes and day. And of course, love you, Juju.
Love you too.
