Courage, The Reaction To Fear

Courage, the Reaction to Fear

Courage is not simply one of the virtues, but the form of every virtue at testing point. ~ C.S. Lewis


Courage is an extremely powerful ally. At times that are most difficult, when real pressure is applied, those with courage will rise to the occasion and prove themselves worthy of the title. But what is courage? Is it fearlessness or is it something deeper? Understanding further the meaning of courage, we first need to understand the concept of fear.

         Fear is a perception, a mental brain image of a possible future event, real or unreal, that may cause harm, be it physically, socially or mentally. Fear is no more than a human perception; it depends on the person and the place. One person may fear heights and one may not; one may fear spiders and one may fear death, but in the end fear comes to a person at different times.

         If courage is the positive way that a person can react to a fearful situation, then the previous explanation proves the courage solely depends on the person that is placed in the situation. If one fears heights and they are asked to go sky diving, then it would be courageous to do so. However, if another person absolutely loved heights, then how could that be considered courageous, there is no fear. Therefore, if there is no fear, there is no courage, and with fear comes an opportunity to be courageous.

         When we delve further into the concept of fear, we can see that there are two definite forms, physical fear and what is known as moral fear. Physical fear is of the things that can actually harm you; falling from a height or getting bitten by a snake. Moral fear affects us deeper. It’s a fear of the mind, a fear of the unseen, maybe of people not liking you or of nightmares; they are fears that cannot be seen. Moral fear is often related to ones personal ethics and beliefs.

         From these two forms of fear, we get two forms of courage. Ironically, they are physical and moral courage. Physical courage is standing strong against a physical fear. Moral fear is much deeper. Moral courage is when one fights against an unseen fear, like standing up to your peers when asked to do something that is against your morals and ethics. It’s about what one believes in, their ethics and what they have grown to understand about the world that they live in.
         
         A great example of courage is a story about an American woman waiting in an airport terminal, five days after September Eleven.*  It is almost silent except for people quietly whispering to each other; in the middle of the waiting room are two Middle Eastern university students, no more than 18 years old. Everybody is tense as everyone expects something to happen, and it does. After about half an hour the woman stands up and walks over to the boys and asks if she could sit between them, “sure” they say nervously. She asks them who they are and where they are from and why they look so sad. They reply that because of the recent attacks of Muslims in the area, their family wants them to come home, before they end up victims of ‘hate society’ attacks.

         This woman has done, what at the time, was unthinkable, she stood up to everyone’s fear, and was brave enough to address the situation how it should be. Most people felt extremely agitated at just seeing Middle Eastern people, let alone watching them before they got on their plane. The women showed incredible courage against what could potentially snowball out of control, against her fears.

         This example of courage also shows us another point of thought. Was this fear of the unknown, credible, or was it just perceived danger of something that definitely was not going to happen. There was virtually no chance of these men committing a terrorist attack. From this we can see that often fear isn’t creditable, the fear was falsely perceived. Fear doesn’t have to be real, often our fears are so false that to believe them is ludicrous, yet believe them we do. Is courage against perceived fear still courage, or is it less courageous? That’s the question that we all must ask ourselves, the question that will change us. For me perceived fear is still fear, although it is a fear we can conquer easily, by standing strong, therefore courage against perceived fear is still courage. Fear is still fear, whether it is creditable or not.

         Another prime example of real courage is the men that fight in the wars of the world. Always we hear stories of people such as Vietnam Veterans and old WW I and II soldiers who fought in wars that where horribly fierce and bloody. They fought against people who they didn’t know. For people that they most likely have only ever heard about. All for the sake of the freedom of people they will never know. They had to call upon courage greater than anything ever seen before. Fight for what would have seemed useless to the men and women involved in the wars. It is all too easy for us to say that we would find the courage to face the war when we have never been put in a situation that could kill us. Those men out on the battlefields didn’t fight against the enemy; they fought against themselves, against the fear of death and the fear of going home incapable of looking after their families.

         We live in a world where we pay people to make our lives easier. The fear is taken out of our lives, and those that do put themselves in fearful situations are labelled thrill seekers and are looked down upon by people who think they are better, because they have conquered all, when all they have really done, is run from fear so that it will never reach them. But understand, courage doesn’t necessarily start in a big way, the first time you show courage may be standing up for yourself when your friends want to take you out partying when you know your not allowed. It may seem small but even showing a small amount of courage still makes you courageous. When the time comes when you are facing the impossible and all things look like they have come to an end, those that have hidden from fear their entire life won’t stand up. They will break like water on rocks and those that have stood against fear will be victorious.

         So now we know what courage is. It’s not the obvious, the expected. It’s when a person stands up to fear or danger with all of their personal ethics and morals. Where one makes the decision that fear is just there to haunt you and can be beaten, whether is physical or moral.

Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgment that something else is more important than fear.  ~Ambrose Redmoon

*Story taken from events documented at http://www.league.org/publication/connections/courageous.html/