by Jack Thornton

Created on: September 07, 2008

Courage is the measure of how much a person can fear and still continue on. It is the young boy getting back on the bicycle after falling and getting hurt that has more courage than a volunteer soldier going into a fire-fight because it is his job. Both are admirable traits, but the first is Courage while the second is Duty and Integrity.

It seems that the youth and young adults of today are generally lacking in courage compared to generations past. We do not hear about month-long expeditions moving cattle across multiple states. No tales about explorers finding and running previously unknown rivers to see if it can be done. Facing down wild animals is now done almost exclusively from inside a vehicle or behind a fence. This is a trend that started decades ago and continues today.

Where are the modern stories about courage? I submit that they are all around us. The situations have merely changed. The courage of a young person to persevere despite the sweaty palms and roaring of their heart in their ears is still strong. The world is a smaller place now, it is much harder to demonstrate courage in an epic adventure. Courage today lives on in the sum of many smaller experiences.

The phenomenon of helicopter parents is the most obvious of attempts to protect the youth and make them safe. These phenomenon help to drive the visibility of courage way down and make it harder for it to be experienced and practiced.

At the same time, it is easy to find instances where courage shines through. A teen vaults a fence to cover and protect a toddler from an attacking dog even knowing that he will be attacked in turn. Many children continue to go to school through dangerous neighborhoods and despite threats of violence. Many volunteers step forward to go to disaster areas to help improve the situation and save lives. Each of these demands courage, and these are but a small sampling of what is out there.

Courage has not died off. It is more hidden and experienced in smaller doses. In my experience as a Boy Scout leader, I have seen boys continue to face their fears, continue on anyways, and succeed at tasks they did not believe they could do. If they show that in an evening or a weekend, combined with the stories that can be plucked from the news, is enough to convince me that courage has not died out. It is there, just waiting to be called on.

Learn more about this author, Jack Thornton.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.