The King of Courage!

This week we celebrated the birthday of a world changer and one of the greatest leaders in modern history. There are many lessons that we lesser mortals can learn from the life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

I want to focus on just one attribute of his character that became a catalyst for social change.?

Courage.

You see, there are a lot of courageous people in this world. However, the absence of fear or the presence of courage in itself does not always translate into great outcomes. Why is that?

?Generally speaking, if I told you that someone is not “afraid” of anyone (“he is scared of nobody”), what is the kind of person that comes to your mind? Let’s say you have no context to that question or any background information on the person. You will likely picture a person who is brazen, outspoken, difficult to reason with, and someone who may be aggressive and confrontational in their approach. This type of Courage and Fearlessness does not inspire you. You don’t feel compelled to subscribe to their vision, to their ideas. You find it discouraging, demotivating and in some cases makes you afraid of the person. ?

?This is what society gets wrong about the concept of Fearlessness and Courage. ??

True courage is conviction about noble ideas. It is your ability to withstand pain. It is your resilience in the face of failure. It brims with kindness. It is open to others’ opinions. It is standing up for what is right. Real Courage does not instill Fear. ?

Contrast that to what you see in today’s society when it comes to standing up for “ideas.” They try to quash any rebellion to their ideas. Resort to name calling if others are opposed to them. They lean on violence to establish the superiority of their ideas. ?

Dr. King taught us a few things about Courage. ?

True courage does not operate out of Anger, instead relies on Hope. Absence of Fear does not mean absence of Respect; in fact, it instills more respect for those around us. Courage gives you voice, it forces you to stand up for yourself (in many cases for others), and it has an opinion; however, it never compromises on integrity and never forces its will on others through aggressive or violent tactics. True courage is inspirational. You are not repelled by it; in fact, it makes you want to follow their lead, rally around them. True courage does not rely on confrontation, but instead on collaboration. ?

May you be the Kings and Queens of true and real courage!

?