​​Courage Is Calling

There is nothing we prize more than courage. But courage is not a precious stone like a diamond that takes a billion years to create, nor oil that must be drawn from deep underground.

Courage is something much simpler. It’s renewable. It’s everywhere. It’s something that we are capable of at a moment’s notice. There are unlimited, even daily opportunities for it everywhere. And yet it remains so rare. Why?

Because we are afraid. It’s easier not to get involved. We have something else we’re working on and now is not a good time. An understandable logic, but if everyone thought that way, what’s left?

In an ugly world, courage is what allows beautiful things to happen.

Fear

Fear is the force that prevents courage.

It’s impossible to beat an enemy you don’t understand.  Fear is the enemy of courage in all its forms—from terror to apathy to hatred to playing it small. We are in a battle against fear. So we have to study fear, get familiar with it, grapple with its causes and symptoms. Everybody has fear, but it’s the ability to rise above it that makes someone remarkable.

So if we wish to be great, we must first learn how to conquer fear or at least rise above it in the moments that matter.

The Call We Fear

What we are to do in life comes from somewhere beyond us. Each of us is called to be something. But will we choose to accept this? Or will we run away? That is our call. Today each of us receives our own call. There will be so many reasons why this will feel like the wrong thing to do. Here’s where fear reveals itself.

But the receiver can’t catch the football if they flinch in anticipation of the hit. The artist can’t deliver the performance if they tremble at the ready pens of the critics. The politician will rarely make the right decision if she worries about the consequences at the polls.  There is no room for fear if we want to progress.

If fear is a driving force in your life, start thinking the other way around. Fear what you’ll miss, fear what happens if you don’t act, fear what they’ll think of you down the road… for having dared so little. If courage is never required in your life, you’re living a boring life. Put yourself in a position that demands you to take a leap.

Courage

1. Preparations Make You Brave

Are other people naturally braver than you? Or are they just better prepared? Training is the key to overcoming fear in any and all situations. What we don’t expect or haven’t practised will always have an advantage over us. But with regular practice, you are familiarising yourself and becoming comfortable with discomfort. It’s the preparation that makes you brave for a new opportunity.

2. Just Start Somewhere, Just Do Something

The French speak of petites actions—those first small steps, the builders of momentum, the little things that add up. This concept is helpful for us when we feel afraid or despair in the face of a problem. We don’t need to lead a grand charge. Sometimes the best place to start is somewhere small.

Florence Nightingale worked in a hospital for one summer, and that gave her the confidence to dedicate her life to the task. She eventually went on to be the first-ever recipient of the Royal Red Cross and revolutionised modern nursing. Florence Nightingale didn’t start with the Red Cross and change the world overnight. She started with a few weeks of work in her local hospital, gaining a little bit of experience, then making each subsequent step one after the other.

On the other hand, Thomas Edison disagreed. He said that life was too short to start at the small end of things. He always wanted to go for the hard problems and the ambitious projects.

Perhaps there’s a way we can align these concepts. We can begin with petites actions but on our magnum opus. Start small on something big. Your headlines may only illuminate a few feet of the dark road in front of you, but that’s enough for you to drive all the way home. You’ll be surprised at how big a difference just a little action can make.

3. Courage is Contagious

When another country called on Sparta for military help, the Spartans wouldn’t send their army. They sent only one Spartan commander—but this was all it took. Because much like fear, courage is contagious. It takes one person who isn’t afraid and knows what they’re doing to reinforce an outnumbered army, bucks up a broken system, or calm chaos.

Army historian S.L.A Marshall used to say that no matter how lowly their rank is, anyone who controls themself contributes to control others. You just need to have the courage to do your duty. You make a difference when you are brave, because you make others brave in the process.

The Heroic

If courage is the act of putting yourself on the line, then the definition of heroic is very simple: it is risking yourself for someone else. This is the type of bravery we hold up above all others—because it’s so rare, much more profound, something we see only fleetingly. To be a hero, we must triumph over fear, cultivate courage in daily life, and be ready to seize opportunities that life presents us. Our need for heroes is great. Will you be a hero?

The Selflessness of Love

In the summer of 1969, Captain James Stockdale was held as a war prisoner in the infamous Hanoi Hilton. The brutal beatings and deprivations had been hard, he was struggling and scared. The enemy wanted him to shave, look presentable for the cameras, and say ‘all was well’. Instead, Stockdale used the razor blade they’d given him to shave to cut open a three-inch gash across his forehead. Sensing this wouldn’t be enough, he grabbed a wooden stool and bashed his own face with it repeatedly, until his eyes and face swelled up so much that he could barely see. This was the beginning of his campaign of defiance against his captors in the Hanoi Hilton.

Stockdale didn’t see himself as a prisoner of war. He saw himself as a prisoner at war. After a few months, the torture had only gotten worse. Stockdale decided that he would offer his life, to put an end to the suffering of all of his mates. He was tied to a chair, but he waddled over to the only paned glass window in the prison and broke it. He grabbed a gig shard of glass, and slit his wrists. Stockdale was revived, and this day marked the final day of prison torture they had come to know in Hanoi.

A hero is not someone simply braving the elements alone. It’s not you against the world, it’s not you angry at the world, it’s about what you’re willing to do for the world.

Similarly, in the same conflict as Stockdale, think of the Vietnamese monk Thich Quang Duc. Deeply distressed and aged by the South Vietnamese persecution of Buddhist citizens, he decided he would make an even more incredible gesture of defiance. He lit himself on fire.

It’s almost too perfect that the root of the word “courage” means “heart”. Not only did Thich Quang Duc show great heart through this wild gesture and superhuman statement of resistance. His heart was the only thing that survived this cremation on the street. Today, his heart sits displayed as a holy relic—a symbol of defiance.

It’s not defiance for its own sake. It’s a love of the innocent, a love of the future. Even if they won’t get to experience it, they’re hoping they can offer hope and a brighter future for others. The flip side of ‘what’s in it for me’ is the courage to rise above our limits in the service of others.

Beating the Odds

The odds may be stacked against you, but you can beat them.

If we only proceeded when things were favourable, then history would never be made. We have to remember that polls, estimations, statistical models are all static. They can’t predict for the individual who makes events happen rather than sitting back and waiting for things to happen.

There is no courage without bad odds or a willingness to risk losing what you have. You need to remember that you’ve always had what it took to defy the odds. Did you know that your very existence is perhaps the least likely thing to ever happen? According to scientists, the odds of you being born are in the realm of one in 400 trillion. Even that fact alone is an understatement. Consider everything that had to happen for your parents to meet, for you to survive, for you to find yourself here at this moment, thinking about what you may embark on. You are a miracle on the spectrum of unlikely miracles, and yet here you are.

Of course, you can’t just disregard the dangers because they are inconvenient. Entrepreneurs who consistently bet the company on the next big idea will eventually go bust. Still, there is no escaping. Sometimes, we must be brave enough to defy the odds. But we do this only when there is a real chance of success. And we do it rarely when we have no other choice.

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