Courage

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It has been quite a while since I wrote something for one of John Holton’s weekly Writer’s Workshop prompts, and it feels about time that I do it again. This week’s selection, which you can find here, includes the one I have chosen, his #1: Write a post inspired by the word courage.

Just in case you don’t know the word I looked it up, and the preferred definition I found was in the Merriam-Webster dictionary:

“mental or moral strength to venture, persevere, and withstand danger, fear, or difficulty.”

That seems to me to cover what I think it is about. At the grandest level it is usually interpreted to mean valour in battle, in times of war, but that barely scratches the surface for me. We can all do things which require a little courage or bravery in our everyday lives, and these don’t need to be things which would qualify us to be called ‘heroes,’ though we may be just that in someone’s eyes for what we do. We can all perform acts of courage, withstanding difficulty, and most of us do it without recognising that’s what we are doing, or seeking praise for doing it.

Maybe an example or two would help? I’ve never thought of myself as brave or courageous, and usually try to avoid even the smallest of arguments, but one thing I detest is bullying. When I was at school a group of boys in our year regularly bullied my friends and me while we were enjoying a game of football. One day something in me just snapped, and while one of them was near me I stuck out a leg and tackled him to the ground, even though the ball was nowhere near us. Needless to say, like all bullies he couldn’t cope with that and sought me out after school that day. We talked for a bit, he told me to do it again (as the excuse, no doubt, to beat the shit out of me) and I refused. But no more came of it, and the bullying stopped. A simple example, and no doubt you can think of many corresponding things from your own life – I use this to make the point that courage doesn’t have to be on a large scale to matter.

I’ve said before that I have two daughters of whom I am extremely proud. One of them was first violinist and leader of the local youth orchestra where we lived. I couldn’t even raise a note from any instrument, so she had already achieved much more than I could, but to take the lead on stage in front of sizeable audiences, keeping her own playing together and taking the orchestra with her, took a degree of courage that I admired greatly.

And her younger sister was a very talented tennis player, picked up by the Lawn Tennis Association for their junior programme, and she won many tournaments in the five years that she played until an injury forced a very early retirement! I watched many of her matches – the typical tennis parent keeping his fingers tightly crossed – and always admired her courage in playing the game the way she wanted to. It may not have been the Centre Court at Wimbledon but her matches were important for her, and how she managed to hit a good serve on match point I’ll never know: I’d have been a trembling wreck!

These are just three small examples of how courage can play a part in our lives. We all face things of which we can be fearful, or which are difficult, and what matters is how we take on those challenges. They may be small, or they may be huge, but we should stand up for ourselves when we have to. Those of us who are parents and grandparents know very well how much our children learn from us, how much they can be influenced by the values we instil in them by our own words and actions, and the importance of being the best version of yourself that you can be can never be understated. It takes courage to be a good role model – which is probably why so many spineless politicians fail miserably at setting an example!

I came across this lovely quotation while I was looking up the definition of courage, and thought you should see it too:

“But as long as your courage holds out you may as well go right ahead making a fool of yourself. All brave men are fools.

Robert Frost 17 Apr. 1915, in Selected Letters of Robert Frost,  1964″

How many things have resulted from someone having the courage of their convictions in the face of the “it’ll never work” brigade? No doubt there are countless inventions which have been made because someone had the courage and the strength to persevere, even if others thought of them as fools. That is the kind of courage I would like to have!

Whle I was considering writing this piece a dim and distant memory struck me: didn’t I use courage as a Tuesday Tunes theme? I looked it up, and I actually ran two posts on this in January 2024, so I thought I’d close today with a couple of the tunes, for a bit of light relief. This first one is about having the courage to do what you think is right:

When others are telling you that you’ll never make it, what should you do? Give up, or carry on doing what you know is right? This song takes the second approach – be brave.

 

And my second one is about regrets for not having been brave when that was needed, and how that can leave us feeling in some way incomplete:

For me, this is a great song and video, and it makes its point: if we don’t have the courage of our convictions, we may well end up paying a heavy price for that. And that doesn’t just apply in a war setting!

So, that’s my take on courage. It doesn’t have to mean big things being done in the greatest of public environments, it can just as easily be applied to small things we encounter in our everyday lives. Overcoming those challenges may well take a degree of bravery on our part, and we should never underestimate its importance. What we do can make a difference – for ourselves and others – and a lack of courage might stop us doing something good. Go on, try it: as Del Boy used to say, “you know it makes sense.”

See you again for Song Lyric Sunday? Hope so 👍

 

43 thoughts on “Courage”

  1. Excellent essay, Clive! And it’s true, small acts of courage are just as noble as the large ones. And no wonder you’re so proud of your daughters! You yourself have shown a lot of courage, by sharing your life story,

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    • Thank you, Debbie, I’m pleased you think so. It isn’t always about the big things, is it?

      Those two have given me so much of which to be proud of. And thank you for your kind words about me, too.

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  3. Very thoughtful blog Clive.

    We can all sometimes punish ourselves by the things we don’t do, when we take the easy way out and if we’re not careful we can base our self-perception on our ‘failures’, the times when we didn’t show a little more courage. But when we do overcome our reticence and are a little braver, the feeling can be wonderful, and we all could do with reminding ourselves of that feeling more often.

    As for yourself, you’re right to feel proud of your daughters but feel proud of yourself too, being a good parent takes guts on a regular basis.

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    • Thank you, Paul, and I agree with you: we can be our own strongest critics sometimes, when maybe we should be a little kinder to ourselves.

      And no one ever said parenting was easy, did they – if they were any good at it!

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  6. Good piece, Clive. Indeed soldiers, firefighters, and the police are deservedly recognized for their courage, but I like to focus on the unsung heroes like the parent who goes to night school after working all day so that their child can have a better life.

    Anyone who sticks to their convictions, especially when their opinion is in the minority, is also courageous.

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  7. Wonderful post, my friend! Yes, courage can be so many different things. Big and small. Congrats to your daughters. And good for you in standing up to the bully! I am sure your stomach was churning.

    I have liked Rachel Platten’s Fight Song ever since my youngest battled anorexia. They would play it in the rehab every morning at breakfast.

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    • Thank you, Carolyn, that’s kind of you. Yes, it was churning but I managed not to leave any signs of that on the floor!

      I’m very sorry to hear that one of yours had anorexia and I hope it’s cured now. It’s a horrible illness. I don’t know that song, so I’ll have to look it up, but thanks for the tip 😊

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      • You are welcome, and I am glad that you didn’t leave any signs on the floor. 😄

        Thanks! Yes, it is cured for the most part. It will always be a weakness, but they are definitely in better health and much better mental state. It truly is a horrible disease, and it’s sad for it’s often misunderstood and there are not a lot of treatment centers for it. We were very fortunate not to have to go out of state to get help! Too many people do, and that’s just wrong!

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      • I worked for an NHS Trust which provided mental health services and we had a specialist eating disorders unit. I did quite a lot of work with them (on the business side) and saw some tragic cases.im pleased things are better now for you.

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      • Yes, tragically, three people who were in the rehab with my child died.
        It was one of the hardest times to go through! Ironically, over that time is when I started blogging, which turned out to be a huge blessing!

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  8. Well said Clive you must be so proud of your girls. From what you have said in the past Clive you have shown a lot of courage in overcoming your demons!
    I was bullied mercilessly at school so I can empathise with anyone being bullied. ..
    What doesn’t kill us makes us stronger .

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    • Thank you, Willow. I am very proud of the wonderful, caring humans they have grown up to be.

      I don’t think of myself like that, but it’s kind of you to say that. I’m sorry you were bullied, and I hope that you managed to overcome it.

      Thank you for the song: one I know and like 👍

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  10. Your example of being bullied is well chosen. When I was 10 years old I was bullied by kids of my class. I tried to hide rather than defend myself. I did not have the courage. Decades later, my daughter was bullied by almost all girls of her class. It was so much heavier than I experienced it. Everything was coming back and at times I felt paralized. But since it was my daughter, and it was my task to take care of her, I took action instantly. There is so much more support in schools today than there was in the past. However, the school psychologist had only limited success and in parts it was getting worse. I knew, I had to do something but had to be careful! I knew how the bully worked and I knew the bully and her background (the others were only followers). At a particular occasion I played a card (something she did I turned around and scared her since I said, some of those things are criminal and could have serious consequences). You know, my heart was pounding but I played the role like “Columbo”. From that moment on, that bully did everything that my daughter had no reason to complain about her. I defended my daughter because that way, I found my courage – and resolved something of the past in me. There were more such occasions when I stepped in front of my kids for things I never dared to do for myself.

    Thanks for sharing this experience of yours and reminding me of mine.

    P.S. Thanks for choosing Thunder. I saw the Imagine Dragons live this year and Thunder is my favorite song of theirs… it might connect with something in me I just talked about.

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  12. I don’t think much about courage, but you’re right, there are heroes and then there are everyday incidents that take place that we don’t really realize that it took courage to do them.

    Love both these songs. I don’t remember hearing either one before. 🙂

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    • When we hear the word ‘courage’ we tend to think of grander things, but we all display it in various ways.

      I’m pleased you loved the songs, and am happy to have introduced them to you 😊

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  14. This is an outstanding piece, Clive. I would say it even took courage to compose this and post it! Your examples are personal and beautiful. I don’t think about courage in my own life much, but honestly I can see now that a certain amount of bona fide courage is needed just to face the routine tasks of each day! Thank you, Clive.

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