Courage...

Over the last week, I have had both cause and opportunity to examine the meaning of the word courage. What is it? Do I have any? What does it mean to be courageous? Is it the absence of fear? Is it the ability to defend yourself physically or verbally? Or is it something else altogether?

Dictionary.com defines courage as the quality of mind or spirit that enables a person to face difficulty, danger, pain, etc., without fear; bravery. Further, it gives an example of its use as a current idiom: To have the courage of one's convictions, that is to act in accordance with one's beliefs, especially in spite of criticism.

I'm not sure either definition is complete, to be honest. Mark 15:43 says, "Joseph of Arimathea came, a prominent member of the Council, who himself was waiting for the kingdom of God; and he gathered up courage and went in before Pilate, and asked for the body of Jesus." (NASB) It's something Joseph of Arimathea had to "gather up," or stir up within himself. He had to dig for it inside himself. He had to put it on like clothing, perhaps. Does that mean it is to be fearless? I think not. To be fearless is sometimes to be foolish. Lack of fear can be responsible for downfall under the wrong conditions.

I think something else. Courage is a choice. An example would be the brave men who volunteered to fight in the second world war. Once they were in the middle of the action, it would have been easy to be filled with the fear of death, what with it hailing lead from multiple directions. It would have been easy to run away, or to duck and cover until the shooting stopped. And yet, these men went on to win the war. From talking to my Grandfather, a tail gunner whose plane was shot down (he was the sole survivor of the crash), I learned from his own admission that he was afraid all the time. Yet he acted. He made a choice to move forward in spite of fear, in spite of lethal consequences if he failed.

My dad made a choice like that. Faced with stage 3 throat cancer, he decided to fight. The radiation treatments caused a heart attack that took his life. He faced down his fear and made a choice to fight.

I could go on with many examples, but my point is that courage isn't the absence of fear, its moving forward in spite of fear. To have the courage of one's convictions is to act in accordance with one's beliefs, especially in the face of critisism. That implies a choice to speak or act despite misgivings, despite negative consequences.

I have met a few people that have been intimidating verbally and physically in my life, and they used their advantage to attempt to bully people around them. What I have experienced is this - despite my fear, when I chose to stand my ground, they turned out to be cowards, physically, morally, or both. The next time someone crosses your path and tries to inimidate you mentally, physically, spiritually, or otherwise, make the choice to act and stand in spite of your fear. You will find out that most often, the real coward is the one using the inimidation tactics.

The courageous die once, the cowardly die a thousand deaths.

Keep your stick on the ice.

---
"You will know the truth, and the truth will make you free."
-John 8:32 (NASB)