The Notion Of Courage And Its Types
Courage can be defined as being courageous or brave. It refers to the act of doing something that might be frightening, yet choosing to act anyway. Many people aspire to be courageous, as being courageous does not come naturally. Courage is an attribute of good character and virtue (Watson, 1986). Thus, when one has courage they are treated with the utmost respect. Additionally, there are 6 types of courage, thus namely, Spiritual, Social, Emotional, Intellectual, Physical and most importantly Moral courage. Spiritual Courage: Spiritual courage focuses on the ideal of religion, it outlines the question – Do I have a purpose in this world? Thus, Spiritual courage means opening ourselves up to our own vulnerability and the mysteries of life (Walton, 1986). It generally refers to the context of one’s life and the inability to get any answers to the questions, you seek answers about.
An example of spiritual courage is – asking the question “why am I in this world’’ but accepting that you will not get an answer. More so, an advantage of spiritual courage is that it opens our minds to ask questions and to be inquisitive to the things we do not know much about. Social Courage: Social Courage refers to the idea of stepping out into the world, comfortably in one’s own skin. Thus, social courage includes both following and leading. Social courage means not conforming to the expectations of society, being keen to show your true self even if it means risking social disapproval or punishment. Moreover, social courage involves being there for others, helping them in times of need and acting on behalf of others. An example of social courage is – to do something regardless of how others might view you thereafter. Additionally, an advantage of social courage is that it makes us courageous beings. Emotional Courage: Emotional courage regards expressing one’s feelings and stepping into one’s vulnerabilities. Thus, emotional courage exposes who we truly are. It is having the capability to put your ego on the line in the face of fear relating to threats to your contented beliefs, habits and past conditioning.
Additionally, an example of emotional courage is – putting yourself out there for that new job or relationship even when you fear being rejected. Emotional courage is an advantage, as it allows us to be vulnerable in situations, we fear being in. Intellectual Courage: Intellectual courage refers to the willingness to challenge your ideas and concepts (Watson, 1986). It regards, answering questions and being mindful that you might be wrong. Thus, to have intellectual courage you must be willing to learn and to ask questions when you are not sure what the answers are. Additionally, an example of intellectual courage is – asking someone to explain the lecture to you, when you do not understand what the lecturer had meant. An advantage of intellectual courage is that we as individuals will always be mindful because we were not afraid to ask questions. Physical Courage: Physical courage regards doing things even if it causes bodily harm or death. It refers to taking good care of your body by keeping it healthy and strong. Additionally, an example of physical courage is, to run into a burning building to help save the lives of people whom are stuck inside. Thus, an advantage of physical strength would be, that it tests our abilities and strengths, which in the end makes us courageous individuals. Moral Courage: Moral courage refers to doing the right thing, even if it risks the involvement of shame; involves ethics and integrity. Moral courage requires us to listen to our conscience, to rise above our differences, and to make correct judgements – it asks us to see the consequences of our own actions by taking responsibility for them. An example of moral courage is, not to speak behind others back, especially if it consists of badmouthing other individuals. Moral courage teaches us to have strength in ourselves and to be courageous about our actions. Furthermore, courage as a quality of a moral person entails them to do the right thing in all situations. Thus, in terms of leadership – moral courage requires the individual to risk his/her beliefs and values in order to stand up to authority. Additionally, moral courage allows individuals to have integrity and to be strong in their own morality. However, our moral courage is always tested, for example, saying that there is no use trying to change the system, because it is just too strong, can result in moral failure – as one is going against their faith, that things can change and with moral courage, everything is possible.
Our moral courage is tested almost every day. Being straightforward at the risk of dissatisfaction, lost salary or a harmed vocation; being responsible while owning up to a slip-up can get us in a bad position, settling on extreme choices and requests with our children at the expense of their fondness, being reasonable when we have the ability to be something else, and following the guidelines while others pull off whatever they can – these things take moral courage, the inward solidarity to make the wisest decision notwithstanding when it costs more than we need to pay. The pitiful actuality is that individuals with good bravery once in a while get awards. Rather, they chance scorn, dismissal and striking back. However, this kind of courage is the best marker of genuine character. At the point when a leader thinks more about making the best choice than looking great or climbing the company pecking order, he picks up the strength to really make striking move in the service of 'the right thing.'
However, in the present society, despite the fact that individuals realize that things are not right, many still accept things as they are. Thus, only the minority chooses to do the right thing. We can simply observe it in our day by day lives and I am certain everybody may have encountered a circumstance where their moral courage is tried and they need to do or say the right thing or simply overlook it. Some still overlook and simply continue with their own lives despite the fact that they realize something is not right. Despite the fact that innovation and science has empowered people to work less demanding and more brilliant, I still however feel that the human instinct and brain have stayed stale or possibly dwindled despite the fact that innovation has conveyed society to a state where our grandfathers may never have envisioned. Additionally, social media, glamour and making money has 'tainted' the present age and the developing children that moral courage is less essential when contrasted with the way to becoming wildly successful. Perhaps it is not simply money. But, the dread of disappointment. Thus, one thing I need to make reference to is the term YOLO (you just live once) which has been very famous as of late. Some utilization it to legitimize the things they do and use it as a rule of how they live. However, I feel that, yes, it is okay since that it is actually obvious that you live once. Be that as it may, this does not mean you simply take a stab at everything on the grounds that that will be accounted to heedlessness. To which, this implies that we can live through this guideline but not at the costs of going against our conscious and moral values.
Moreover, when considering a crisis of courage in my community (Tafelsig), thus specifically moral courage – we can say that people fear doing the right thing. I stay in Mitchells Plain, commonly known as the “Cape Flats” – it is a community where gang violence is a pretty high threat to the community. Thus, one of the major reasons for the violence taking place, is territorial domination by gangs to control the illicit drug and shebeen trade. To which, in the midst innocent people are being shot at or killed. If there is a full-scale gang war raging on the Cape Flats, children, youth and even the elderly are the victims. There is no control over these gangsters, as even the “neighbourhood watch” fear them. Gangsterism is a major threat to the moral courage of all communities – As reporting the gangs to the police is the “right thing” to do, however, majority of the people staying in my community is afraid to do so, as reporting gangsters can cause one’s own life to become in danger, if gang leaders should ever find out.
Additionally, the best thing we as a community can do about gang violence is to report it. However, many individuals fear doing so, thus we need to raise awareness about it. We need to involve, the schools in our local community. As, we can ask schools and principles to have assemblies in which they speak to the younger youth about the effects of belonging to a gang. Moreover, not having courage can cause damage. Thus, in my community gangs are killing innocent people, they are installing fear in the children, as children do not want to walk to the shop, or even play outside. Gang violence is a serious crime, which causes damage to people’s lives and most of all, society. However, it is because we as a community lack the courage to report the crimes of gang members to authorities, we will forever live in danger. Furthermore, in order for us as a community to get rid of gangsterism, we need to adopt moral courage – to do the right thing, for the benefit of our younger youth. In conclusion, although courage is generally characterized as acting in spite of fear it is really a substantially more mind-boggling quality. Contingent upon the circumstance that an individual is in, they will have the chance to show courage in various ways whether that implies standing firm and revolting against foul play or physically conquering something that triggers a dreadful reaction.
