Courage: A Daily Necessity

By: Angelica Vecchiato

The battlefield was a squalid and inhospitable scene. The bodies of fallen soldiers were a remnant of the gory battle that was being fought, creating in its path casualties of an unprecedented scale.

The field was covered in red blood. The air bespoke a tragedy of the most melancholic order. The soul of humanity growled with the agony of loss and resentment. It could be spoken that the only champion of the battle was death itself. Yet a young soldier bravely continuing, sporting a limp along with a downtrodden attitude, sought rest. He sat down on the field, and was about to give up hope--for the battle was long, arduous, and emotionally debilitating. Through all the self-doubt and discouragement, the sullen voice of a fellow comrade slowly fading from down below reached his ear, “will you go on, sir, do you have the courage?”

From within, something stirred within the limping soldier. Ignoring the pain, he stood up, and with determined eyes he starred the field down, and daring to advance, took broad strides forward. The battle is won with courage, yet the real battle is finding the daily courage from within.

Ah yes, courage. A topic seldom discussed and usually portrayed on the battlefield or with the glorious red capes of heroes and heroines. The terribly popular Marvel industry has seemingly perfected the “true” definition of this virtue in crafting heroes who are courageous in the highest honour-- willing to risk their daily comforts, their families and even their own lives in the noble pursuit of defeating the bad guy (usually with punches and kicks) to shape the world into a better, more hospitable place.

But what is the “true” nature of courage; such a glorious virtue which propels ambition, dedication and hard work surely ought to have its proper definition, perhaps more broad than simply just physical strength?

The pursuit of living well and living authentically, though seemingly a simple proposition, is in reality an exercise of incredible courage and bravery. I have thus proposed to you a new interpretation of what courage truly is, (which might astound you), as it presents quite a contradiction to how courage is often depicted in films and media, which is mainly through the guise of physicality only.

Although the manifestation of courage is certainly ostensible on the battlefield, this is only one subset of courage. In fact, most scholars categorize courage in four different ways: physical, emotional, moral and social courage.

Through the course of the day, and really through the course of life, you shall be presented with moral and emotional predicaments. Perhaps for instance, at the alluring proposition of ambition and the rise of success, you might risk destroying a long-standing friendship. In confronting situations that twist your moral compass and perhaps your understanding of what is right and wrong, you must use courage to challenge yourself to do the right thing.

In many respects, the pandemic has turned ‘normal’ life into a battle-ground. Simply going through the daily motions of life, we experience loneliness, isolation, depression, and the whole lot of it. The way I see it, we young girls have become soldiers battling against the increasingly turbulent and difficult motions of life. Living to the best of our abilities, is using our intellectual and emotional courage to combat the negatives of the world and in theory to the right thing (living the best we can with what we have).

At this time, it is important that we have courage. The courage to live authentically, the courage to be unapologetically optimistic during unprecedented challenges, and the courage to make a difference in our immediate lives to affect change on a grander scale. You might think I am being cliche, perhaps becoming a moralist. For me, personally I loathe the idea of ‘being lectured at’, thus it would be counter-intuitive to my very existence and to my argumentation if I really presented it in this way. What I am trying to suggest to you, dear readers, is that you are called for something greater. Be courageous--there is so much opportunity available to you to do something great and incredible

Use your courage, use your youth, use your ingenuity and make the best of this pandemic life. I believe in you, you can do this.