Courage

Courage is a necessity to overcome fears and achieve a desired goal. Fear is something that exists in all of us. There is no hero or any particular courageous figure that is without fear. Being fearless is not required to be courageous, one simply has to look past or overcome their fears to possess this great quality. When overcoming fears and going against the norm, there are always risks involved. There are different types of risks that come about. Someone could risk life or limb, while others risk their reputation. Either risk is serious enough that a person must have courage to endure that particular risk. Courage can occur anytime, anywhere, and often in our everyday lives. Everyone will experience courage no matter how young, old, wise, or foolish. The effects of courage may not always be positive, but they are definitely remembered.

Overcoming fears when the odds are against you is a requirement for courage. If you feel afraid to do something but you still do it, you are courageous. Gandhi spoke courageously by standing up in the face of violence. He said, “Nonviolence is the greatest force at the disposal of mankind.” (286); this is a statement that many would find naпve, but Gandhi went against the norm, and that is something that is courageous in itself. Courage is doing what you believe in despite the odds that may be against you, and this is exactly what Gandhi did. Overcoming your fears and standing up for what you believe in is an important aspect of courage. In the story “My People Will Never Believe Me Again,” Sarah Winnemucca Hopkins describes a young Indian woman who works for the United States military as a translator. Throughout the story, Sarah takes orders from the military men despite whether or not she thinks their orders are fair. At the very end, though, she stands up for her people and refuses to obey the officers. “The agent told me to be sure and keep my people away, as they were very poorly dressed. I did not do as I was told.”(298) Even though it took some time, she eventually overcame her fear and her feelings of inferiority and stood up to Father Wilbur and the other white men.

There are many risks involved when a person comes in contact with courage. A person’s peers or the people close to them can be highly judgmental, especially if what you are doing clashes with common beliefs or behaviors. This stands very true when looking at the life of Martin Luther King Jr. His peers were not only the African American population, but also white upper-class clergymen. In the first line of Martin Luther King Junior’s letter to the clergymen he states that he is “confined here in the Birmingham City Jail.”(303) Dr. King took a great risk of being judged, solely by writing a letter to his peers. He knew that the clergymen already had their own ideas about him, but he took an even bigger risk by writing them from his jail cell. Another major risk that people take while being courageous is risking their life for the lives of others. In “And the Band Played On,” Randy Shilts tells the story of a young female doctor, Grethe Rask, who risked her life because she worked in a clinic that didn’t even provide the “…basics [such] as