Courage

Recently, I was in a conversation where the topic of courage came up and what it means to the average person. That conversation reminded me of an article written by one of my early life mentors, William P. Patrick.  I would like to share the article with you here.

COURAGE

Why is it that most people’s lives are controlled by small and petty circumstances?  I am saddened as I watch people lose the good and great things that are within their reach and could be theirs with “but a little act of courage”!

The mediocre person, the “Average person,” is the one I speak of here. This is the individual who has so little self-esteem that they cannot trust their own thoughts and judgments. And, in the final analysis must rely upon outside sources for their decisions. This is the man or women that is ruled by the mob. This is the individual who has some degree of success only when he or she is caught upon the crest of a wave generated by the few exceptional self-directed individuals. This is the person who has a positive attitude for that moment when they are in the presence of positive individuals, but when left alone, “fall to their negative knees.”

This is the person who sells their birthright, the commitment to one’s own thoughts, for fear of what their neighbor might think. This is the individual who stands tall as they are prompted by the actions of the mob, but left terrified with the silence of their own presence. This is the man or women who follows and fears to lead. The person who hides their deeds in the cloak of nobility and then cries “foul” when life has passed them by.

This is the individual who is ruled by circumstance. Strong people create circumstances which serve their needs and desires. If you are a person of circumstance, the cure for this disease is COURAGE.

COURAGE is the most beautiful of all human expressions. COURAGE as I see it is “an act in the face of fear.” We only need COURAGE when we are afraid, which means that we need COURAGE almost all of the time……because we are afraid of something all of the time.

I have discovered that fear becomes a coward when faced with but a small act of COURAGE, and further, that the muscle of COURAGE will grow strong with continued use.

My advice to myself is, “do the things which you fear, and keep doing them until you are no longer afraid, and then you will have become the master of your fate.”

I have studied the deeds of people both great and small, and I have studied people both great and small.   In this study there appears to be many differences.  All of the differences which count have, at their base, one single thing……COURAGE.

COURAGE is that one ingredient which separates the weak from the strong, success from failure, and the great from the average.   All things you desire in life have one common handle, which is made for the hand of the individual of COURAGE.

To be afraid is to be alive.  For me, to act against that fear is to be a man. I hold close the statement that someone once said, “I had rather die on my feet than live on my knees.”