Without courage, it's tough to be honest and impossible to speak truth to power. ]”, This being the case, if and when it comes, “let that bomb…find us doing sensible and human things—praying, working, teaching, reading, listening to music, bathing the children, playing tennis, chatting to our friends over a pint and a game of darts,” and “not huddled together like frightened sheep and thinking about bombs. "Courage" without love is simply not courage. thinks of courage is the act of being brave in life-threatening situations. Hobbes’ words will doubtless resonate in spades with anyone who was born in 2020. Courage And Courage: The Definitions Of Courage. They may break our bodies…but they need not dominate our minds [.]”. Aristotle defines virtue as a disposition to behave in the right manner. Therefore, any demonstration of courage deserves a special gala and an award presentation. Aristotle’s definition of virtue is: virtue is a mean state between excess and deficiency. Whereas a coward is someone with faint hope, since such a person is afraid of everything. Because courage allows us to act on our values rather than our impulses, its virtue has long been recognized. Therefore, it is an everyday occurrence, expressed in a myriad of non-award-winning ways between family members, neighbors, and even strangers. St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas warned against counterfeit virtues. Lay Witness In other words, when the fear is reasonable, when it is proportionate to the danger posed, it is fulfilling its natural function. Everyone wants to be seen as having courage these days, but the term, unfortunately, has been grossly politicized and, as a result, thoroughly trivialized. Aristotle recognized courage as the virtue at the mean between rashness and cowardice. He memorably remarked that “fear and I were born twins together.”. Courage is a meta virtue - meaning that it drives the other virtues. It means being able to do what is right and virtuous, even if it is difficult to do. "Physical courage" is courage in the face of physical pain, hardship, death, or threat of death. . Courage is crucial to all the virtues becoming “voluntary” in Aristotle because as already discussed courage is the mean between fear and confidence. All moral virtues, they explained, flow from love. "Courage" without humility is self-serving, reckless, and dangerous. written by leaders in the Catholic Church, each issue of Lay Witness keeps Courage or bravery is a virtue, an excellence of character. Reprinted with permission of Lay Witness. 2020: The Age of UnReason, the Year of Fear. We need the courage to create a situation that is unpleasant for us. the month, and provides formation through biblical and catechetical articles with Lewis had written on the panic over the prospect of an atomic bomb attack that had seized the members of his generation. The elements of love and goodness are essential to the true meaning of courage. Similarly, courage is the virtue that obtains when a person strikes upon the mean between excess and deficiency. Aristotle said of it that it “is the first of human qualities because it is the quality which guarantees the others,” “the greatest quality of the mind next to honor.” Courage is “the mean” between the emotional extremes of “excess” and “deficiency.” He was teaching a female student driver at the time, and he told her to chase down the vehicle. A reader recently brought to my attention an article that C.S. It is enamored with sparkle and apathetic about substance. But after studying the virtue and learning more about being virtuous, I have found that it is the virtue of deciding between the two vices of cowardice and recklessness. Since the overwhelming majority of people to have died from “The Virus” suffered from multiple pre-existing conditions, they didn’t die from this virus at all; they died with it, perhaps, but not from it. Pilate was merciful till it became risky.” 2. They have only revealed it for all of the world to see. It belongs to and fulfills the virtuous human person and therefore does not require any public accolade. This in turn means that for people who are not immunocompromised, COVID in the United States has a mortality rate of about five one thousandths of one-percent!). Donald. In fact we are the first generation of leaders to be leading in such disruptive times. Let me suggest that it is the ability to choose the point that lies between cowardice and recklessness in any circumstance. To put this in terms with which most of us have long been familiar, the transformation of a cold virus into an existential crisis legitimizing the indefinite revocation of the United States Constitution and the reduction of the Land of the Free to an internment camp—and one in which its prisoners seem only all too happy to observe “Social Distancing” protocols while cowering behind their masks—has proven beyond the shadow of a doubt that most people really are ridden with fear. DeMarco, Courage may be manifest as: Valor and bravery - Often called physical courage. Is A Totalitarian Screaming To Get Out". If love is not present, neither is virtue. "Courage" without love is simply not courage. It is what, as Christians, we must always have in mind in order to make our actions acceptable for eternal life. 1. Perseverance, industry, or diligence - often called endurance. Lewis concludes with a warning that all of us in the “COVID era” should take to heart: “Nothing is more likely to destroy a species or a nation than a determination to survive at all costs.”, A Daily Blog By Shillman Journalism Fellow Daniel Greenfield, A Project of the Courage is a mean condition between the excess of rashness and deficiency of cowardice. The virtue of courage, for example, is the middle position or the “golden mean” between rashness and cowardice, and liberality is the middle position between extravagance and miserliness. The various virtues courage, compassion, generosity, and so on still ring well in the secular ear. He is not likely, however, to receive "The Courageous Resister Award." Nonetheless, as various Doctors of the Church have pointed out, humility is the most important and most elementary of all the virtues, indeed, the "Mother of all Virtues.". Nothing remotely similar can be said for COVID. In the hands of the politically oriented, courage can easily be bent out of shape and used in this distorted form for political purposes. But what is courage? What “the scientists” have done is simply add “one more chance of painful and premature death to a world which already bristled with such chances [. Shortly after word reached England that the Spanish Armada had embarked, the philosopher Thomas Hobbes, born in 1588, tells us that the terror induced in his mother labor pains that resulted in his premature birth. is the mean between the extremes of foolhardiness and cowardice. Another problem with courage is that people believe that it is unusual. Courage is the first of human qualities because it is the quality which guarantees the others. Without courage, it's hard to be compassionate and impossible to swallow pride and forgive. Fred Henry, Bishop of Calgary, Alberta, has persisted in presenting Catholic teaching despite being ridiculed in the press, vilified in public, and threatened with imprisonment. On the side of excess there is boldness (tharsos), 2) while the result of a deficiency is fear (phobos). Never before in the history of leadership has this type of environment been navigated. The ancient root of the word "courage" is cor, which in Latin refers to the heart, a symbol of love. Rather, the retraction was made on the grounds that it could be “misinterpreted” or otherwise used for the nefarious purpose of disseminating “misinformation” regarding COVID. Remember also that courage is a choice. you informed on current events in the Church, the Holy Father's intentions for Or is it merely an opportunity to promote a cause by canonizing a hero? Praising another person for being courageous is always complimentary. © 1996-2019 Catholic Education Resource Center | Privacy Policy | Disclaimer | Sitemap, CERC is an entirely reader-supported web site and non-profit charity. It lacks pizzazz. If you’ve appreciated, Reflections on the Covid-19 Pandemic: A Search for Understanding, How to Remain Sane in a World That is Going Mad, Poetry That Enters the Mind and Warms the Heart. . Both an excess and a deficiency of fear are simply irrational or unreasonable amounts of fear. The other driver quickly took off, and the instructor ordered the student to chase him again. But after studying the virtue and learning more about being virtuous, I have found that it is the virtue of deciding between the two vices of cowardice and recklessness. The opposite of courage, the vices, is either cowardliness or rashness. This is especially troubling since courage is the virtue that underpins all other virtues. Consider three recent recipients of "The Courageous Resister Award": James Pendergraft, a Florida physician who "courageously" continued performing late-term abortions in the face of strong public opposition; Dr. Wayne Goldner, who continued to provide abortions at a hospital even after it had come under the auspices of the Catholic Church; and the Rev. It is the year of raw, wildly irrational fear. Courage is “the mean” between the emotional extremes of “excess” and “deficiency.” Fear is a morally-neutral emotion in itself. He was charged with assault, suspended from his school jo… If love is not present, neither is virtue. But the secular worlds interest in the meaning behind these positive sounding words is minimal. It appeared in Greek thought at least as early as the Delphic Maxim nothing to excess and emphasized in later Aristotelian philosophy, For example, in the Aristotelian view, courage is a virtue, but if taken to excess would manifest as recklessness, and, in deficiency, cowardice. Aristotle explains that a rash person seems to be a braggart who makes pretense of courage and a rash person mimics courage in those situations in which he can. "Courage." Aristotle thought courage and temperance particularly important in order to acquire any virtue since courage and temperance are the virtues "Inside Every Progressive This revelation came as a shock as the authors expected that deaths would be significantly higher given that this year, unlike in the past, COVID deaths would add to the total death toll. Courage is one of the four classic western cardinal virtues. They made it easy, however, for us to distinguish a true virtue from its imposter. The irrationality of the fear is determined by the nature of the object of the fear. Aristotle He discusses about various types of virtues and its corresponding vices like courage: rashness and cowardice, liberality: prodigality and illiberality, magnificence: gaudiness and chintziness, etc. 06/02/2016 04:06 pm ET Updated May 29, 2017 ... this takes courage. Aristotle said of it that it “is the first of human qualities because it is the quality which guarantees the others,” “the greatest quality of the mind next to honor.” Courage is “the mean” between the emotional extremes of “excess” and “deficiency.” Courage is a strength drawn from a wise balance between the weaknesses of cowardice and recklessness. But it is the one that is most publicly celebrated, and therein lies its danger. Courage is moral strength in the face of danger. Yet the elites have not, strictly speaking, caused this fear. We must be more circumspect about our use of the word "courage.". And, as Aristotle long ago observed in his famous analysis of fear and courage, a person who habitually “fears the right thing, for the right motive, in the right way and at the right times” is a courageous person. A driver’s education instructor became enraged when his car was cut off by another vehicle. “Courage is not simply one of the virtues, but the form of every virtue at the testing point, which means at the point of highest reality. A choice between standing up and fulfilling one’s mission, or sulking away and making compromises and excuses. In practical terms, this means avoiding the extremes in a moral action of deficiency or excess. Bishop Henry is the epitome of true courage: an expression of love in the face of danger for the purpose of serving what is good. Virtue, as defined by Aristotle, is a character trait that manifests in the habitual performance of a set of behavioural cues. (4) Fortitude as one of the gifts from the Holy Ghost is a supernatural virtue, and passes beyond the Aristotelian range. I think of goodness* (a good heart intention) as “pro” and villainy as “con”. But courage must possess both strength and love at the same time. Courage poses another problem because people, by and large, regard it as the most dramatic, dazzling, and desirable of all the virtues. Lewis’s contemporaries at least had something truly dangerous to fear, for an atomic bomb, being an indiscriminate killer, was certain to leave in its wake widespread destruction and death. Now, like all virtues, the virtue of courage (andreia, literally ‘manliness’) 1) deals with a mean, that is, a midpoint of moderation between two extreme points, which should both be avoided as they either involve excess or deficiency. But stubborn, insensitive, fanatical people do the same. Another Latin word, fortitudo (from which we derive the cardinal virtue of fortitude), brings out the strength that courage must possess. The explanation for this became at once self-evident: deaths in all of these other categories were being counted as COVID deaths (the paper can still be found in a PDF file). The motive of courage is always noble. Assuming for the moment (against the evidence to the contrary) that COVID-19 truly is a distinct virus that has been isolated from the gazillions of other stuff with which it co-exists in the bio-chemical soup in which scientists claim to have located it, even according to the official numbers (which even the CDC acknowledges is the result of inflating the death-by-COVID toll by some 94%), the dreaded Virus has a mortality rate in the United States of about one-tenth of one percent—about that of the seasonal flu (The real mortality rate is appreciably smaller than even this, for if only six percent of patients to have died from COVID, lacking any pre-existing conditions, actually died from COVID, then this amounts to about 15,000 people. Courage, The Most Important Leadership Virtue. The various virtues courage, compassion, generosity, and so on still ring well in the secular ear. Usually, the first thing that comes to mind is bravery in the face of a threat, yet it is so much more. Virtue is a disposition rather than an activity. This low-key virtue falls under the radar. Courage is the greatest of all virtues, because if you haven't courage, you may not have an opportunity to use any of the others. This week we drill down on what courage means. So the researchers delved more deeply and discovered that, incredibly—miraculously—deaths in all other categories, in the categories of heart disease, respiratory illness, pneumonia, influenza, etc., decreased just as COVID deaths increased. For instance, the virtue of courage consists of the disposition to feel neither too much nor too little fear, but rather some appro- priate amount in between. It takes courage to do something nice when you really don't want to. Gregory Dell, whose ministry was revoked by the United Methodist Church when he violated church law in presiding over the "marriage" of two men. The virtue of courage helps us to take the initiative to make changes in our lives and/ or to accept changes brought before us. Fear is universal. Aristotle says that virtue is a “mean” between extremes. Courage is one of those virtues necessary to living a good life. On the other hand, when a person habitually suffers a deficiency of fear—when he possesses less fear than he ought to possess—he has the vice of recklessness. No one, at the present time, is giving out awards for humility. Come and see . Aristotle said of it that it “is the first of human qualities because it is the quality which guarantees the others,” “the greatest quality of the mind next to honor.”. It is at once necessary and desirable—as long as it is oriented toward objects that warrant its attention. The classical virtue of fortitude is also translated "courage", but … It is the discipline to act on wisely-chosen values rather than an impulse. The irrationality of their fear is staggering. The ancient root of the word "courage" is cor, which in Latin refers to the heart, a symbol of love. Donald DeMarco is on the Advisory Board of The Catholic Education Resource Center. The point here, though, is that the millions of American citizens who have radically upended their lives (and the life of the whole society) due to their fear of contracting a virus with a mortality rate no different from that of seasonal influenza and from which most people who contract it don’t even get sick are consumed by an excess of fear. The proof for this is that much stronger in light of a recent John Hopkins University study that was retracted within hours of having been published—despite the fact that, to the admission of those who retracted it, there wasn’t a syllable of it that was inaccurate. Featuring articles Political correctness, of course, has little regard for the principle of non-contradiction, and therefore allows people to judge certain individuals, precipitously and decisively, whenever it represents a political advantage. In “On Living in an Atomic Age,” Lewis shares how he is “tempted to reply” to those who question how life should proceed under the constant threat of nuclear attack. But is it always justifiable? “’Why, as you would have lived in the sixteenth century when the plague visited London almost every year, or as you would have lived in a Viking age when raiders from Scandinavia might land and cut your throat at night; or indeed, as you are already living in an age of cancer, an age of syphilis, an age of paralysis, an age of air raids, an age of railway accidents, an age of motor accident.’”, Lewis elaborates, warning against the loss of perspective that arises “by exaggerating the novelty of our situation.” Death was “a certainty” long before the invention of the atomic bomb. Donald DeMarco is adjunct professor at Holy Apostles College and Seminary and professor emeritus at St. Jerome's University in Waterloo Ontario. A chastity or honesty or mercy which yields to danger will be chaste or honest or merciful only on conditions. The Most Rev. Physical courage is bravery in the face of physical pain, hardship, even death or threat of death, while moral courage is the ability to act rightly in the face of popular opposition, shame, scandal, discouragement, or personal loss. So…if used in the cause of goodness, courage is inherantly a “pro” (though it might still cause some temporary turmoil). Courage requires moderation. It persisted as the dominant approach in Western moralphilosophy until at least the Enlightenment, suffered a momentaryeclipse during the nineteenth century, but re-emerged inAnglo-American philosophy in the late 1950s. Courage is the choice and willingness to confront agony, pain, danger, uncertainty, or intimidation. Is this consistent with his claim that some actions (such as … The present year is the Year of Fear. "Thou shall not be judgmental" is one of the cardinal canons of political correctness. Courage or bravery is a virtue, an excellence of character. Hypocrisy, as we have been told many times, is the tribute that vice pays to virtue. COWARDICE is either retreat or complete inaction in the face of adversity, while recklessness is inchoate risk ‐ taking. To be courageous is to fear reasonably, to know what to fear, when to fear it, and how to do so. Of course, there are plenty of things that you fear that don’t, won’t, or can’t result in death. But courage must possess both strength and love at the same time. He is a regular columnist for the Saint Austin Review. Courage takes many forms. Courage is a mean concerning things that involve confidence or fear; the courageous man feels and acts in as much as merit requires and reason prescribes. DeMarco is the author of twenty books, including Reflections on the Covid-19 Pandemic: A Search for Understanding, How to Remain Sane in a World That is Going Mad, Poetry That Enters the Mind and Warms the Heart,  The Heart of Virtue, The Many Faces of Virtue, and Architects Of The Culture Of Death. In today's environment there is no leadership rule book. We have no best-seller entitled Profiles of Humility or The Humility To Be. Lay Witness (September/October 2006): 10-11. Another Latin word, fortitudo (from which we derive the cardinal virtue of fortitude), brings out the strength that courage must possess. Samuel Johnson When, though, a person habitually possesses an excess of fear—when he possesses more fear than he ought to possess—he has the vice of cowardice. Courage is more than simply deciding to act carelessly, it is the ability to respond to fear. David Horowitz Freedom Center. Nor would that matter to him. A bishop should love his flock and allow courage to flow from his heart so that he can fulfill his episcopal responsibilities. The essence of Virtue lies in harmony between … Courage or bravery is a virtue, an excellence of character. There is a great deal of truth in Aristotle’s view. Virtues in general must act with that firmness which fortitude bestows (II-II, Q, cxxiii). real-life applications for everyday Catholics. is the flagship publication of Catholics United for the Faith. The three award-winners mentioned above did stick to their guns, so to speak; they went ahead and did what they thought to be right under stressful circumstances. e.g. to apologize. But the secular worlds interest in the meaning behind these positive sounding words is minimal. Still, it is worth revisiting Lewis’s sagacious counsel, as his words resonate, or should resonate, more profoundly for those of us living today than perhaps at any other time within recent memory. "Moral courage" is the ability to act rightly in the face of popular opposition, shame, scandal, or discouragement. Yet courage is as common as are love and goodness. "Courage" without humility is self-serving, reckless, and dangerous. Other articles where Moral virtue is discussed: Aristotle: Happiness: Moral virtues are exemplified by courage, temperance, and liberality; the key intellectual virtues are wisdom, which governs ethical behaviour, and understanding, which is expressed in scientific endeavour and contemplation. Aristotle defines the courageous as those who act in the face of a noble death or act nobly in emergencies that involve death. For sure, the inexhaustible fear-mongering on the part of opportunistic political partisans in the Government-Media-Industrial-Complex has exacerbated, exponentially exacerbated, the fears of tens and tens of millions of Americans. What we need to remember, above all, is that true virtue is personal. Courage is a beautiful virtue. They caught up to it, the instructor got out and walked over to the other driver, then punched him. The study, which was performed by the university’s students, found that the number of overall deaths in 2020 remained continuous with that of years past. Ten years ago, I read Desmond Seward’s book, _Monks of War_, reading as I usually do with the purpose of answering burning questions that I … 1987). Does it attest to love in action? In the West, virtue ethics’ founding fathers are Plato andAristotle, and in the East it can be traced back to Mencius andConfucius. Since such a person strikes upon the mean between rashness and deficiency, industry or... Neither is virtue prospect of an atomic bomb attack that had seized the members of generation. `` moral courage '' without love is simply not courage. `` allows us act..., an excellence of character of being brave in life-threatening situations told her to chase him again popular,. 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