The Wizard didn't need to give the Lion courage

Grandpa: Superman isn't brave.

Angus: Did you take your pills this morning?
Grandpa: [chuckles] You don't understand. He's smart, handsome, even decent. But he's not brave. No, listen to me. Superman is indestructible, and you can't be brave if you're indestructible. It's people like you and your mother. People who are different, and can be crushed and know it. Yet they keep on going out there every time.

This quote was from a 1995 movie I watched the other night called “Angus”

After watching the film, I got to thinking  about courage. Frequently, when the idea of courage is mentioned, images of physically strong characters come to mind. This is not down-play that kind of courage at all. I am certain that firefighters, police officers, and soldiers frequently display courage. When we think about the idea of courage a little longer, we start broadening our definition.

Many people would start to include the leaders of the United States Civil Rights movement, the Suffragettes of an earlier civil rights movement, and perhaps many other groups come to mind.  The list might even start to include some pioneers, or people that did famous firsts. At some point though, we might leave something out. I know I did.

For both groups  there are common elements. Certainly they are all actors in unusual and interesting circumstances. They are those that, to borrow from a popular phrase, lived in interesting times. There are other things that are shared though.

So what ideals or qualities can be found in acts of courage?  Well, I believe at least part of courage comes through choices: choosing to face fears of physical, psychological, and social harm, to not back down to intimidation, to face the possibility of humiliation, the choice to stand alone.  To be clear, even doing any of these things alone is not all it takes. Wisdom, rationality, and humility should temper our acts as well: foolhardiness isn't really courage. But the choice comes when you decide that there is something more important on the line. 

Here are some other forms of courage that came to mind:

It takes courage to keep going when the odds don’t look promising.

It takes courage to admit that we are different.

It also takes courage to accept the humanity of those that are different than us.

It takes courage to honestly and sincerely admit when we are wrong.

It takes courage to accept a sincere apology from someone that has wronged us.

It takes courage (and a bit of faith) to forgive them.

I don’t think we have it all the time. There are plenty of times that I had the opportunity to choose, and chose wrong. Most of the time, this realization didn’t come to me until much later. Not that I am going to dwell on those times, because another choice comes:  for me it is to choose to go on despite the mistakes. The choice is to not let those mistakes define me.

I would hope that there is some courage to be found in this choice as well.