I am intrigued
by the stories courage, like stories of the recipients of the Medal of
Honor. I am awestruck at the selfless
acts of heroism of these brave men – and one woman, Mary Edwards Walker, who
was awarded the MOH during the Civil War.[1] Their humility is
incredible – they say they were just doing their duty, and that the real heroes
are those who did not come home.[2]
And I am awed
by the firemen who ran into the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001 –
“Pounding up the stairs while we were running down.”[3] And by the Chinese man staring down a tank in
Tiananmen Square in 1984.[4] Not many of us have the opportunity to risk
our lives in a noble effort. Thankfully,
the demonstration of that kind of physical courage passes most of us by.
However, we
each one of us often have the opportunities to show moral courage.
Check
out the definition of courage.[5] It does not say that courage is the absence
of fear. It is keeping your self-control
in the face of danger.
Most
of us, thankfully, will not be called upon to run into burning buildings to
show our courage. There are other
opportunities to demonstrate courage, as there is more than one kind of
courage.
Mark
Twain has said, “It is curious that
physical courage should be so common in the world and moral courage so rare.”[6]
Moral
courage means doing the right thing even
at the risk of inconvenience, ridicule,
punishment, loss of job or security or social status, etc. Moral
courage requires that we rise above the apathy, complacency, hatred, cynicism,
and even religious differences. Doing the right thing means listening to
our conscience, that quiet voice within.
Let’s
consider for ourselves: which would be
more natural and instinctive for each of us, to react instinctively to rescue a
person from an overturned car, or to stand up at a meeting and speak calmly and
clearly and unpopularly? To dive into a
lake to save a struggling child in the water, or to stand calmly, without
raising our voice, while a crowd yells, mocks, threatens and laughs at me?
I
hope, with the help of my God, to have that moral courage when the situation
appears.
I
hope we all would.
[2]
For frequent stories of MOH recipients on Facebook, see https://www.facebook.com/search/top/?q=national%20medal%20of%20honor%20museum%20foundation
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