COURAGE

Courage is a virtue much lauded in modern America. This became particularly apparent in the wake of the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center in New York; in the aftermath of this man-made disaster, America became obsessed with heroism and heroic memes. The firefighters and other rescue workers who displayed immense courage in rescuing as many people before and after the buildings collapsed became practically deified in the media and in popular culture; at least one individual, NYFD chaplain Father Mychal Judge, has had his case proposed for canonization as a Catholic saint and martyr, and at least one catholic church body independent of the Roman church has canonized him as a saint.

Can the virtue of courage only be displayed in such extreme situations? When most of us think about courage, we tend to think first of battles and war and violence and the performance of duty in the face of possible mortal danger. For those of us who do not have functions in our society cognate to Dumezil’s warrior class, how can we cultivate the virtue of courage in our lives?

In preparing to write this essay, I defined courage in this way, slightly expanded from the definition given in the DP:

Courage: The ability to manifest right action despite fear, uncertainty or difficulties.

For those of us who do not put our lives on the line on a regular basis, the idea of “moral courage” confronts us more often than that of “physical courage.” As a gay man, and especially as a gay man who grew up in a very conservative Christian religious situation in a very pious family, my coming out experience with my family is my own example of courageous action. Given the experiences of some gay and lesbian individuals that I have known, the risks to me were both moral and physical: I could have been disowned or shunned by my family, with whom I was very close and who provided my main source of social support, and although it was an extremely remote danger in my own case, there have been cases of physical assault by families when their children reveal their sexuality to them. I was making a very real, very serious risk by coming out to my family, but I knew that it was the only way that I could make my way to a life that was fully lived, and preserve my integrity. In my case, unlike some, the results were uniformly positive and my family and I (and my partner) are closer than ever. The risk not taken, though, would likely have killed me in the ten years that have now passed—and quite literally, given the elevated suicide statistics for gays and lesbians.

Can this virtue be cultivated? As with most virtues, we can inculcate them in our children by example but we cannot force them to be virtuous. By exposing them—and ourselves—to stories of courage both “real” and mythic, we can learn the value of taking courageous stands in our lives. The real work, though, is to practice courage, and for most of us it will be the labor of a lifetime to work past our fears to regularly do the things that make a real difference to ourselves and those with whom we share the Earth.

BACK TO VIRTUES