COURAGE

Hokitika Guardian, 17 October 1928, Page 7

COURAGE

AN ANALYSIS

(By WINIFRED M. PONDER.)

I asked a friend for a definition of courage, and was told bravery. Another said fearlessness. Somehow this did not saisfy me, so 1 turned to Webster and learned that it is, “ That quality of mind which enables one to encounter danger and difficulties with firmness, or without fear, or fainting of heart.” Courage, then, then is a mental quality and not physical, ap is sometimes imagined. If I open my mouth for you to yank out an offending tooth, it is my mind and not my body which decides whether or not 1 shall squeal. There are various brands of courage both real and assumed. That which has its expression in the purely physical is demonstrated by the spectacular rescue of a child from drowning. Should I dive in after it, flounder about to the best of my ability, and finally restore it to the fond arms of its mother, I have exhibited courage in risking my life ; but if you, a first-rate swimmer, beat me to it, you have not displayed any courage worth mentioning, the only risk you ran being that of a wetting. On the other hand if our friend throws himself in, knowing he cannot swim a stroke and that the water is over his depth ,then, he is note a. brave man at all, but merely a tempararily insane one, for no sane man ever commits suicide for posthumous honour and glory. The ‘ ‘llave-couragie-my-boy-to-say no-” type has unwittingly produced many a little prig, with a feeling of vast superiority over his fellows. Courage should not completely overshadow another little word that started off the same way, then changed its mind —“courtesy.” You may have the courage of your convictions, or you an ay merely foist your wholly unwelcome opinions on someone else with opinions of their own, and sufficient common decency not to be over-noisy about them.

I neither drink, smoke, nor swear. This is not courage on my part, merely personal inclination. I have never In my life felt a real desire to let off, steam with a good solid cuss-word; therefore, who am I to stand in judgment should you introduce one into every other sentence? For all I know- you may have an almost overwhelming, temptation ito sprinkle them quite freely every time you open your mouth. I have tasted one or two varieties of what is, generally known as “drink” and think the stuff is perfectly detestable. You, on the other hand, mayhave a regular passion for it on every possible occasion. Am I more courageous when 1 say “No” every time, and you perhaps only when the steely eye of your wife is fixed upon you ? Not more courageous, possibly more self-righteous. Some of us have all our natural inclinations pointing in the direction of good citizenship. We find it easier to “ do right” than to “do wrong” ; to be content with what is legitimately ours than steal something belonging to our neighbour; and to live all ouf life 'with out ever doing anything desperately wicked. This is our good fortune, and no credit to us as individuals; hut to our ancestors, maybe.

In the days of my extreme youth—not so very long ago at that—l rather thought courage a noisy business that demanded a soap-box for its adequate expression, and a denunciation of the sins and shortcomings of others for its chief concern. Now it has assumed the habiliments of an everday attitude toward life; just facing up each day as it comes, looking it squarely in the face, and not shirking. It is quite a personal affair in fact, with very little of the spectacular about it.