BRAVERY

Moral excellence comes as a result of habit.
We become just by doing just acts,
temperate by doing temperate acts,
brave by doing brave acts.
Aristotle

You have to know what you want.
When you know it, you must have the courage to state it.
Once you’ve stated it, you must have the will to make it happen.
Georges Clemenceau

Courage cannot be counterfeited.
It is one virtue that escapes hypocrisy.
Napoleon Bonaparte

Courage is like an umbrella.
It’s when you need it the most
that you don’t have it.
Fernandel

At some point everyone feels fear. At some stage in life we all have to make decisions in a frame of uncertainty. Courage is precisely the ability of conquering fear and uncertainty in the pursuit of an objective.

That being so, it may be convenient to specify some aspects of courage. For instance and most obviously: being brave does not mean being free of fear. Any normal individual feels fear or is afraid of something. There are even ancient fears that act upon us just like instinct does and trigger quick reactions to withdraw, step back or even run away. There are those who feel terribly uncomfortable in the dark; others who have an almost uncontrollable phobia towards reptiles or spiders; others who cannot tolerate heights; most people are really frightened by fires or floods. Many of these reactions have a biological explanation (e.g. vertigo); others are atavisms of our species (e.g. the fear of certain animals); others are due to complex psychological mechanisms. The origin and possible cause of our fears is multiple and diverse. People unable to experience fear are not brave; they are fearless. And these people can become very dangerous, both to themselves as well as towards others.

On the other hand, it is not unusual to confuse fear with our natural reaction against the unknown. This reaction is not fear: it is pure and simple caution. When we suddenly face something unknown which does not look particularly friendly or safe, our instinct of self-preservation acts automatically and puts us in a shields-up attitude.

Moreover, sometimes we call courage something that is nothing but sheer custom. Put a steel beam on the floor and walk on it. Maybe you will find it tricky to maintain your balance but you will hardly feel any fear at all. Now, raise the beam, let’s say three or four feet above ground, and walk on it again. You will feel different, believe me. Raise it again, say 12 yards, and probably you will not dare to walk on it. Put it at the 50th floor of a building under construction and you will not step on that beam for anything in the world.

Among people who work in the construction industry, there are some who walk over these beams every day. Are these workers necessarily braver than any of us? Not really. They just got used to it. If every day you would walk on that beam and progressively raise it a few inches day by day, after some months or years it is quite likely that you would regard doing that at the 50th floor as the most natural thing in the world. The first time we drive a car in the hellish traffic of a big city we might feel so insecure that we would pay to have eyes on the back of our head. Ten years later we remain calm in the heaviest rush hour traffic anyone can imagine. Eventually and given the circumstances, we may feel compelled to shout the appropriate road-folklore expressions at other drivers; but fear will be gone.

In fact, as any occupational safety and health specialist knows, habit, routine, the getting-used-to, make people behave in ways that are not brave, but fearless and even irresponsible. After working many years in a profession quite often the worker will think that the safety helmet and the fall harness equipment are only for “sissies”. Labour accident statistics and even professional sickness data refer extensively to these situations and behaviour.

Our first natural and normal reaction when in danger is to flee. It might not be something that flatters our ego, but it is what our self-preservation instinct dictates, an instinct we share with practically all other animals. Normally, in the presence of danger – or anything perceived as such – every animal flees. Rats only fight when they are, or feel, cornered. A snake in the middle of the road will try to escape first. Furthermore: escape is practically the only defence mechanism available to many species.

The situation becomes quite different, however, under certain conditions. It is quite unlikely that someone will not fight to defend his own life. It is not very flattering, but many people behave like rats: if they can, they will run; if they are cornered, they will fight. Could we call this courage? I don’t think so. It is clear that in such cases all we have is only that already mentioned instinct of self-preservation and survival at work.

But sometimes something extraordinary happens: it is when contradicting that ancient instinct all of the sudden someone rises in defence of, not of his own life, but that of others. I mean: this is extraordinary because it even contradicts Darwin’s theory about self-preservation and selection of the fittest. A stronger individual rises to fight for the weaker. That breaks all rules of evolutionism! An individual stands up and risks his life for all who did not dare. When we accept risk and fight because there is a threat to the integrity or the safety of our children, our family, our community, our Nation, our culture, we stop behaving as our animal instincts dictate us to behave, and start behaving as only human beings are capable of. That is the hallmark of the brave.

True courage is the ability to master our doubts and fears and to make firm decisions in dangerous situations. Our ability to use that courage and put it at the service of others is bravery. In other words: courage is always self-referential, bravery is not. Courage is our ability to conquer our fears. Bravery is that same ability put at the service of those in need. The bull-fighter, the Formula One race driver, the trapeze artist, those are what we would call courageous daredevils. The warrior who fights for his nation, the doctor who fights off an epidemic, the policeman and the fire-fighter, those are brave people.

Extending the issue, it may be worth pointing out that there is also an often overlooked and unique form of bravery and courage. Sometimes it is referred to as “civil courage”. It is the courage displayed not when our lives or physical integrity are at stake, but our honour, and we risk our reputation, our social position, our rank, our economical means or our privileges. It is the courage required to still do the right thing even when, for one reason or another, it is not socially or economically “convenient” to do so.

It is the case of the journalist who dares to say and publish the truth although he may get into big trouble for it. It is the case of the accountant who refuses to sign a false balance sheet. It is the case of the politician who resorts to a drastic measure because it is necessary, in spite of losing points at the polls and votes in the next election. “Civil courage” is the bravery of those who stand firm in their principles and their own convictions even when confronted with the mockery and criticism of the corrupt and the mediocre.

For society and culture, in the long run, probably this is the most important type of bravery. Most of us will have died without ever having to step on a battlefield, without having to go into a house on fire to rescue one of its occupants and without having to engage in a gunfight with a gang of criminals. While working in a normal profession, under normal circumstances, it is rather difficult for us to have to face any of these situations.

On the other hand, the possibility of betraying our principles and ideas for economical or social gain is a situation we may have to face more than once. That is when we will have to prove that we have the moral courage to keep faithful and firm in our position, provided the situation involves only ourselves. If it also involves others we will have to prove whether we have the moral bravery to stand up for those ideals and fight for them.

Having that said, it certainly is worth noting that the old Spartan advice of “all in its proper measure” also applies here. Having courage and being brave does not necessarily mean that you have to live making suicidal proposals. To expect that fearlessness and stubbornness will always yield good results would be to demand too much of optimism.

What we should have clear in our mind are our own limitations. It is not a matter of sacrificing the well-being and safety of our entire family for the sake of fighting windmills in the name of a beautiful Utopia. Neither is it a question of committing suicide proclaiming an inconvenient truth in the wrong place and at the wrong time just to see how stupid the company’s CEO will look. Nobody is going to earn the National Award for Honest Behaviour by sawing off the branch where he sits. Many times you will have to learn to just shut up and wait. Many times it will be a matter of knowing how to find the right argument at the right time. What matters, then, is to stay firm looking for that moment and to be able to make the most of it when life gives you the opportunity.

All too often, justice in this world is a train which comes by rarely, stopping only at certain stations and allowing on board only those individuals who were patient enough to wait for it on the platform.

Those who jump untimely on the rails are unavoidably run over.