Week Three – Discussion Question #5
What is courage?
Throughout the first three sections of the book, Creighton struggles to come to terms with the circumstances surrounding his father’s death. After the ransacking and burning of the print shop, General Arnold speaks to Creighton about courage. General Arnold says the following about COURAGE:
“It’s a far more difficult thing to make up your own mind about what’s right and to act accordingly – to go against the demands of duty when it’s necessary, to take another path when you feel the one you’ve been led down is wrong. That requires real courage.”
Read one or more of the following articles, then post on the topic they present:
FBI E-Mail Refers to Presidential Order Authorizing Inhumane Interrogation Techniques from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) website.
TORTURE AT ABU GHRAIB as presented by The New Yorker Magazine online.
‘They said this is America . . . if a soldier orders you to take off your clothes, you must obey.’ as presented by Gaurdian Unlimited online.
The Guilt-Free Soldier: New Science Raises the Specter of a World Without Regret presented by The Village Voice online.
Courage. I think courage is fearlessness, and all that other stuff, but i also think that what Gary Blackwood said is true, it doesn’t always have to mean fearlessness, a person can have courage but still be afraid.
I agree with Mr. Gary Blackwood. We have all had to make a tough make a choice. Wether it was an easy one or not. We all needed the courage to stand up for what we believe in.
DEFINTION:
Courage: The quality of mind or spirit that enables a person to face difficulty, danger, pain, etc., without fear; bravery.
To me, courage isn’t the same thing as fearlessness. You can be very afraid to do something and yet go ahead and do it anyway, just because you believe it’s right. That’s real courage, and I think everybody has the capacity for it; it’s just a question of being faced with a wrong that you feel strongly enough about to overcome your fear.
I think it’s important that a bad decision to act improperly in the face of good advice is not courageous . . . it’s fooish.
So, to act how one wants to act just to do so – to act a certain way simply because one wants to is not courageous.
To have courage and to be rebelious are not mutually inclusive.
Just because I go against what I am told, does not automatically mean I am being courageous. I may actually be doing something foolish.
Thanks for participating in this discussion.. I will be leaving this discussion open for another week. Let the discussion over courage go where it will.
Rather than doing what one is told
Action in the face of good.
Courage… not something that everyone has. It’s when you stand up for what you believe in even when you’re standing alone. It’s when you trust yourself and you’re being brave.
i FEEL THAT COURAGE iS A MAJOR CHARACTER TRAiT. iT iSNT ONE THAT EVERY PERSON HAS. WHEN SOMEONE FOLLOWS WHAT THE THiNK iNSTEAD OF DOiNG WHAT OTHER SAY SHOULD BE DONE, iS AN ACT OF COURAGE. iTS BEiNG BRAVE AND TRUSTiNG YOURSELF.
Courage is a character trait in which someone is not afraid to do a dangerous act. Most people aren’t born with this trait, you must work to achieve it.