Courage Doesn’t Dismiss Fear. It Embraces It.
When I was young, I thought that courage was something you were born with. I thought that courage meant facing danger without fear. I thought that being afraid of something made you a coward.
Courage is an action that doesn’t dismiss fear. Courage is an action that embraces it. It awakens it. It gives it life.
And, if you are like me, someone who wasn’t born with it, here is the good news.
You can work on it.
What is courage?
Merriam — Webster defines courage as a “mental or moral strength to venture, persevere, and withstand danger, fear, or difficulty”. Historically, the word courage meant “to speak one’s mind by telling all one’s heart”. Cor, the Root word for courage, is the Latin word for ‘heart’. This definition can be traced back to the great philosopher, Aristotle.
Aristotle saw courage as a virtue, a trait or characteristic deemed to be morally good and excellent. It’s a virtue that moderates inclinations towards cowardice and recklessness. Courage is the midpoint between the two.
Imagine your friend being attacked by a group of people armed with guns and knives. You might think jumping into the conflict, unarmed, to defend your friend is an act of courage. However, we could also see this as a reckless act. An action that puts the lives of both you and your friend at risk. It ultimately depends on how you see courage.
How do you see courage?
The virtue of courage depends on the individual and the circumstance. It requires us to think and reflect. It requires us to use our wisdom. Humility plays a significant role in this process. Our egos can often trick us into believing that we have the capacity to take on the challenge when we don’t. But, if courage is calling us, we take action. Aristotle explains it like this:
“The courageous man then is he that endures or fears the right things, and for the right purpose and in the right manner and at the right time”.
The virtue of courage comes in all shapes and sizes; from the act of immediately waking up to the sound of the alarm clock, to risking your life to save another. For some, it might be the act of running an extra mile in the face of discomfort. For others, it might be passionately speaking to colleagues about an opinion deemed unpopular.
In this article, Dr. Gregory Jantz describes the small acts of courage that he sees:
“The courage I most often see is the abused person who is willing to risk forgiveness, the demeaned person who is willing to risk self-esteem, the addicted person who is willing to risk recovery. All of these are small acts of courage that produce a groundswell of memorable results.”
Courage is an action that doesn’t dismiss fear
It awakens it. It gives it life. A student might feel scared and anxious about delivering a speech in front of the class. It’s courage that drives the student to walk up to the front of the class and deliver that speech. Fear can be heard in that student’s voice, and can be seen in the tremor of their hands.
If you are scared, do it scared.
That is courage.
Matthew Beard, from The Ethics Centre, expresses it like this:
“Maybe the truth of courage is that it’s all about truth. It’s about looking reality in the face and having the force of will not to turn away, despite the pain, the unpleasantness and the risk. Maybe it’s about looking for long enough to see the joy in the pain; the beauty in the ugliness and the comfort that lies in the little risks we take every day.”
Here is the good news…
As Aristotle says, “we become brave by doing brave things”. Therefore, we can become courageous by doing the things that require it. However, there is more to it than just that. The virtue of courage invites us to ask ourselves some questions. It is through deep reflection that we start to unfold what it looks like and how we think about it. When thinking about courage we should ask ourselves the following:
What do I fear?
Why do I fear it?
Is facing my fears worth the discomfort and pain?
Is it worth dying for?
On October 12th 1945, Desmond Doss, an American Private who served in WW2, received a Medal of Honour: the United States most prestigious military decoration awarded to soldiers who have shown an act of valor during their service.
Doss wasn’t your typical soldier. He was opposed to the war as a conscientious objector and decided to join the army as a combat medic despite the challenges he faced from the other soldiers in his company.
In May, 1945, U.S forces made attempts to capture the Maeda Escarpment (also known as Hacksaw Ridge) in Okinawa. The Maeda Escarpment was an approximately 350-foot high ridge that ran across most of the island of Okinawa. The site was heavily defended by Japanese soldiers as it was the last bit of territory that they needed to defend. U.S soldiers were met with surprise and clashed with the Japanese In an attempt to capture Hacksaw ridge. Doss was awarded for his actions at Hacksaw Ridge, which saw him single-handedly save the lives of 75 soldiers.
For Doss, courage can be seen in his self-sacrifice — his willingness to put himself at danger in order to save another soldier’s life. It can also be seen in much of the criticism and resistance he faced from the other soldiers due to his personal beliefs as a conscientious objector.
What did Doss fear? Was it the fear of losing his life to save another? Was it the fear of losing his faith — his religious and moral beliefs — in the face of opposition? Was his beliefs worth dying for?
Courage and who we are
One of the most overlooked functions of courage is its ability to drive us into a deep contemplation of our character; our strengths and our weaknesses, the beliefs that we hold close to our hearts, and what we are willing to do regardless of the pain and discomfort it may bring.
Final Words
Just like my younger self, the Cowardly Lion from L Frank Baums’, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, thought of courage differently. The Cowardly lion saw a courageous person to be someone who had no fear.
However, Oz explains the meaning of courage, telling the cowardly lion:
“All you need is confidence in yourself. There is no living thing that is not afraid when it faces danger. The true courage is in facing danger when you are afraid”.
Thanks for taking the time to read my article.
Until next time!
Stephen
