Many people believe that the act of courage lies within each individual, and these acts of courage can be brought out by three possible cause. First, provocation. Often times this is seen in movies where the villain kidnaps and threatens to kill the hero’s family. More often than not, the hero finds it within himself to put aside his fears and overcome near impossible odds to save the day. In Batman begins, Batman found the courage to fight criminals after his parents were killed. The second cause is a purpose. In 2001, the Twin Towers fell to terrorist attacks. Military enlistments reached all-time highs as many men and women joined the armed forces. For many of these people, the prospect of serving their country, and gaining revenge for their
Additionally, bravery is something that is hard pressed to retain in chaotic times of war.
Explaining what he once heard to be from Plato, O’Brien uttered that proper courage came from wisdom and nothing else. For one to be a true sublime human being, they must demonstrate wisdom, justice, temperance, and lastly courage. As for a man without wisdom cannot be courageous, something a man without courage cannot contain any of the other three virtues (wisdom, justice, or even temperance). To Plato, wisdom is simply not just knowing what is right and what must be done, but following through with it. Courage, portrayed so perfectly by Tim O’Brien, is “the endurance of the soul in spite of fear” (140). The act of bravery is a battle within itself. Bravery is not about acting upon one’s desires, but instead setting them aside and putting the needs of the people around them first. It is about humbling yourself to your best ability, no matter how much fear one may obtain. There are people who simply just do not understand what is right due to their lack of intelligence, states O’Brien. Then there are so many men who might know what is right, however, they have too much fear to build up the courage to fight for it. As fear so often overtakes one’s whole self without even true recognition, courage is acting against that (136). All throughout the war, soldiers are constantly faced with fear as fear tends to come hand in hand with death.
A courageous action most often is associated with reaching a goal or task of importance, despite the dangers even risks associated with it (“Courage”). For any specific act to be considered truly courageous it must be reasonably thought about and determined that the goal is well worth the risk or danger (“Courage”). Courage so often can be put with words such as heroic, and bravery although with courage there can be a fine line between courageous acts and plain foolishness. All this can make people believe that courage only applies to physical actions. There are two kinds of courage moral and physical in many cases they are both displayed in a single courageous act; however, bravery must come before all else, because they are associated with reaching a task of importance regardless of risk.
True bravery is when you’re aware that the odds are against you, however, you have the ability to persevere through it. Even though you don’t want to complete the task ahead of you, an inner force brings you the motivation to do it. Sincere courageousness doesn’t always entail violence; in fact, courage comes from the choices made within that affect yourself or those around you. The outcome may not always be to your advantage, but
This courage, or rather the opposite, is demonstrated in Tim O’Brien’s novel The Things They Carried, in particular the chapter entitled “On the Rainy River”. In the summer of 1968, O’Brien was drafted to perform military service in the Vietnam War. He, like many others, thought that this conflict was very unjust and he didn’t really understand what the United States was trying to accomplish. Unfortunately for O’Brien, he felt that if he did not go and perform the service like he intended that not only his family, but also his entire hometown would look at him as if he were a coward. In response, he states “I was a coward. I went to war.” (61). In the traditional sense, the
The air smelled sharply of chemicals, and smoke. You can hear sirens from the GCPD cars. The sound blaring from being so close to them was reading to the point when I heard my being called I missed it.
One good example of courage is in Homer's epic poem, “The Odyssey,” when Odysseus enters the Cyclops’ cave. In the epic poem Odysseus and his men enter the Cyclops cave and the text states “We climbed, then, briskly to the cave. But Cyclops had gone afield..." (Homer 157-158). This example demonstrates that Odysseus enters a Cyclops cave and is not fearful. Odysseus enters the cave because he sees treasure and wants to get it for him and his crew. Odysseus chooses to enter the cave even though he knew the cave was the Cyclops home and this demonstrates courage, and this is why the trait should be encouraged. Another good example of courage that sticks out is Newton Knight, who chooses to help slaves even though he lives in the south during the Civil War. In the Biography.com Editors’s article, “Newton Knight,” Knight chooses to stop fighting for the Confederate Army and goes back to his hometown to help slaves, as the text states “They saw themselves as defending the residents of Jones County from the Confederacy” (Biography.com Editors 1). Therefore, this example demonstrates that Knight chooses to fight against the Confederate Army even though he lives in Mississippi. It takes a lot of courage to go up against the Confederate Army even though he lived in the south and almost everyone was against him. It should
In a very highly tense and stressful situation, people tend to go as far as they can to avoid the situation at all costs. There are only a handful of people who run towards the problem to solve it in hopes to save someone’s life. These people are risking their own lives to save someone in need of aid, all without any money, fame, or endorsements in the future. In today’s society the concept of heroism can make a huge impact on a person’s or society’s view. Heroes help teach us what is right from wrong and constantly role-modeling the concept of persistency such as the very popular superhero Batman. He is persistently fighting crime in Gotham City, and will not stop until the criminals are put to justice. Even though his actions are more violent
Clearly, as demonstrated by Arizona, one of the soldiers killed, an important element of courage is not to back away from challenges. Arizona did not hide when his troop was being attacked, but instead, he followed his captain in pursuit of the enemy, but unfortunately, he was shot. This concept of not backing down is further supported on pages 134 and 135, when O’Brien talks about one of his experiences with a bully as a young boy in middle school. O’Brien was pushed out of the line by a bully while he was waiting for the school bus, and though he was puny compared to the bully, he stood up for himself. The bully announced there was going to be a fight between him and O’Brien on Monday.
"to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun
Many people act courageously everyday and, have been since humanity came to be. Proof of this bravery can be found in Elie Wiesel's Night: During the torturous time of the holocaust, while Elie was being escorted to another camp by cattle car; he describes the death of
People who are courageous are able to achieve their goals, to stand up and to have their say in what is right and what is wrong. They might’ve made mistakes in life, but if they are willing to reach it, they will get up and try again, becoming stronger than ever at trying to pursue their goals.
One person who I would consider courageous is Chris Kyle. He is the Navy Seal featured in the popular American movie “American Sniper,” he is pretty much a badass and one of the most legendary service members in American history. He has 160 confirmed kills and 255 claimed kills. This is a lot more than other snipers in our military. To say the least he had balls. Without courage Chris would never have joined the Military, and most definitely would never have passed the seal training. Most of all though he would never have pulled the trigger on at least 160 Taliban members. Without courage he would never have been any type of success. Courage is a necessity to succeed on any scale though. You probably won’t become an American legend, but in order to land that awesome job
Courage is a necessity to overcome fears and achieve a desired goal. Fear is something that exists in all of us. There is no hero or any particular courageous figure that is without fear. Being fearless is not required to be courageous, one simply has to look past or overcome their fears to possess this great quality. When overcoming fears and going against the norm, there are always risks involved. There are different types of risks that come about. Someone could risk life or limb, while others risk their reputation. Either risk is serious enough that a person must have courage to endure that particular risk. Courage can occur anytime, anywhere, and often in our everyday lives. Everyone will experience courage no matter how young,
1938 saw the first appearance of Batman. More of a mystery comic than a superhero comic book, Batman was inherently different from the pure and clean Superman. He was a gritty and depressing character that has been able to remain in print even to this day. Rather than using superpowers, Batman uses detective abilities that allowed him to solve cases and find perpetrators. (“The History of Comic Books.” TheComicBooks.com.) But not even Batman, Superman, or even Captain Marvel could brace themselves for the arrival of the Marvel comics.