Aspects of Courage

We hear of a man standing fearlessly before his house or farm. Standing to protect it and his family against an advancing army or some looting gang: hopelessly outgunned and dying bravely but in vain, unbowed: a victim, partly, of his own  nobility . How we admire this fearless, principled soul who placed honour before survival, and would not flinch or run from those who sought to challenge him or take what was his. A pioneer of courage who  paid the price of honour

We may have read of someone, sitting at his desk, uncovering  some infectious plot, which left unchecked could result in scarring lives. Knowing it corrupt, he looked his employers  squarely in the eye.  Held up a mirror so they might see their characters, and  lost his job while they satisfied their greed

Have we met him. This  brave unbending soul, who, if the moment comes,  will not flirt with compromise or cowardice but stand for what is right and just  against  dark and unloved characters.

How he inspires us to a point just before action. To just before the point where our new principles might be tested in real life.  To just before the point where danger lies. This man who may not be a leader: not in the first instance, but someone who knows where he is and does not duck the challenge. Whose love is simple and based on family and the loyalty of friends. Often low on guile, and a poor publicist. His conduct may not reach the press. Not at once. Some years later possibly, when all threat is gone, we might come across a record of the incident. Some record quietly buried at the time, now making itself known  at last  so we, far from culpability, can share the outrage at his fate.

Mortal, guilty and afraid, we seek our inspiration where we can. Not just to climb mountains, or conquer some bright stage, but just to live as we should live: be aware, and grow to be a man.

I am an ordinary being, and full of failings just like you. We are all human and fallible at that, and facing both moral and physical difficulties, sometimes beyond the boundaries of our courage. Each breath we take is nearer to our last, but somewhere far from danger and away from the frontline of the everyday can we  find strength in the world of the imagination?

We could reflect again on a  dream of living ” Live in the music”.  In those notes which rise above the clouds, and take the hearts of those who hear them to a different land  To some gentle  place unstained by cowardice.  Where man forgets the mirror of his past, and dressed by angels, feels the warm sun gently on his face.