The Merriam-Webster online dictionary defines courage as: mental
or moral strength to venture, persevere, and withstand danger, fear, or
difficulty. We tend to limit courage to the realm of the military, first
responders, agitators for social justice, and martyrs. Nothing could be further
from the truth. Everyone needs courage. Life in community requires courage. Ask
any parent who’s had to face down a teenager angry at the enforcement of
necessary boundaries, or the teacher who must attend a meeting with a hostile
parent over their child’s plagiarism or some other form of cheating. We are
wrongheaded when we limit courage to life threatening situations. We all need
courage to navigate the challenges life presents us. A society or culture that
honors displays of courage, large and small, functions much better.
We must always remember that courage
is not the absence of fear, but the ability to control that fear and take the
appropriate action despite it. We all face moments, large and small, where we
must summon courage. The weary mother who faces down a defiant toddler when it
would be much easier to give in, displays courage. The teenager who refuses to
take part in risky behavior, possibly suffering ridicule, estrangement, and
solitude, displays courage. The businessman who refuses to give a kickback to
gain a lucrative contract, displays courage. The politician who casts a vote
that is morally correct, but unpopular with their constituency, displays
courage. The person who helps, or merely welcomes, a marginalized person
displays courage. All these moments and many, many more require personal
courage.
We require courage for smaller, individual,
battles. Without personal courage, we often end up trapped by our own vices. It
takes courage to admit you were wrong, ask for forgiveness, and when needed
seek help. We all know individuals who, lacking the courage to confront their
own weaknesses, end up skewing off the rails into corrosive and destructive
behaviors. Facing our own moral turpitude requires courage and hard work. When
we summon the courage to confront our own failure, we often find reservoirs of
strength and commitment we never knew we had. Strengthening our own courage
provides the strength we need to muster collective courage to right a societal
wrong, especially a long standing one.
Without courage, a society, culture,
or nation loses its way, wandering from one transitory urge to the next. Sometimes
a society finds itself ensnared in a morally indefensible behavior or practice.
Even a casual reading of history reveals this sad tendency. Courage helps us correct
these wrongs and maintain the long march towards a just and honorable society. Without
courage the bullies win; whether you find them on the playground, schools and
universities, the road, the boardroom, or halls of government. Courage stiffens
our backbone in the face of a censorious society, which at its core is fearful
of the change required to right a moral wrong seemingly embraced by the
majority. Often a minority displays great courage in identifying a cultural
wrong and demanding change. This kind of courage has propelled our nation and
culture forward, helping us divest ourselves from great evils inside and out. The
people who display such courage deserve our recognition and honor, not our villainization.
As the election approaches, we must
take stock of our courage, individually and as a society. Are so bound to a
party as to blindly follow someone with obvious moral failings, failings of
such a severity as to render them unfit for public trust? The courageous option
is to take a stand for personal character and demand that a party put forward a
responsible candidate or withhold your vote. It takes a courageous electorate
to make a modern democracy work properly. Supporting a flawed candidate that
says things we like to hear or is a member of our preferred party is a cowardly
act, and one that produces a government that does not govern well. When enough
of us develop the moral strength to say, “No,” to obviously flawed candidates
and the policies they support, we will find that our government and culture function
properly.
Those courageous individuals who
willingly take a stand for what is right, to say no when all around them say
yes, need our support. We may want to simply look the other way in silence.
That is cowardice. Instead, let us strengthen our commitment to be courageous
individuals and stand up for what is right and for those who willingly step
forward to right a wrong. As long as we continue to look the other way and let
our fears and prejudices guide our decision-making processes, we will live in a
desperately flawed society and under a government that does not serve the needs
of the governed. And sadly, that is what we will deserve due to our lack of moral
courage.
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