by Carla Baron

Created on: September 10, 2008

Which would I rather have Courage or Wisdom? Well I would have to say Courage. Without courage how can one move forward? Courage to some degree is innate. Picture two children the same age knowing nothing, or even baby animals whatever the breed, one sibling has courage and the other does not which one do you think will be more successful? Which one will gain more wisdom? I believe the one with Courage.

If you are afraid to go outside your home or explore the world around you how much wisdom do you think you can develop. Wisdom does not come about by just reading books. Yes we learn by reading but we also learn by experience by stepping outside of a book. We gain wisdom through others and through life experience. You are not born with wisdom.

Courage is not being afraid. Christopher Columbus sailed to the Americas because he had courage. It had nothing to do with wisdom, if he did not have courage he never would have explored. He would not have developed the knowledge, the wisdom had he not taken the chance. Do you think he had courage or do you think he had wisdom? What comes first?

Talk a look at history, how many victories were won on courage? How can you be a leader if you don't have courage? If these individuals did not have courage they would not have gained wisdom. Imagine a leader of a group or General standing behind everyone, pointing ahead saying something like go ahead troops go out there and fight, do what I say just keep with the plan, I'll wait here until you get back, good luck. Now compare that with someone like Patton, who do you think has more wisdom the guy that stays behind because he has no courage and therefore no experience or they guy who has the courage to go out there with everyone else? Which one of them develops experience, I say the guy who has courage he is there a witness to it all, he is living it, feeling it, breathing it, he will know for the next time how to proceed maybe differently or maybe the same because he had the courage to learn, to evaluate, he was there. He had courage. He gains wisdom through his experience and if he did not have the courage to do that he would not be who he is.

Courage makes a person step outside of the box. To move forward in life you must think outside of the box and be willing to step outside. Those that can't are usually people that have fear, they are afraid and they are content and just very comfortable in the box. Of course they will gain wisdom through life but not as much as the person who is courageous. How can they? Sure they can read books but everyone knows going to school, and reading books is not enough. It's not reality, yes you're smarter than you were before you entered school but now you have to step out into the real world. Not the same thing. Not everything is in those books. So again ask yourself who does better the one that has courage or the one without?

So when asked the question would I rather have courage or wisdom, I say courage because if I have that I also have wisdom, I have both. If I choose wisdom however than I may not have courage and therefore I may not be as wise as I'd like to be or could be.

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