Courage and Bravery

To Stand Unafraid

Bravery is pushing through the fear to make things better

People tend to believe that the brave are without fear. Being fearless… to stand unafraid is lauded. It shouldn’t be. Fearlessness is usually either the result of not enough information to make an informed assessment, ignorance — or worse, insanity.

Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the assessment that something else is more important than fear. ~Franklin D. Roosevelt

Image created by the poet with Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop

Fear can feel like a ravening beast. But, it also teaches us how to survive in this world, to protect ourselves, to defend our physical and emotional well-being. To be fearless is neither safe nor rational. That’s not what I mean when I say “to stand unafraid.”

It doesn’t mean letting ourselves be crippled by fear, though. Irrational fear is probably as or more dangerous than fearlessness. Those who are crippled by fear act in ignorance and irrationality, descending into hate and bigotry.

Ignorance combined with irrational fear is without courage — it’s from where hatred springs. Ultimately, hatred is cowardice of the highest order. The courage to be brave in the face of terror isn’t an absence…