From: ibshambat@gmail.com   
      
   I do not consider myself an especially brave person, but I’ve known people   
   who were very brave. And from observing these people I came to have an   
   understanding of what makes for courage.   
      
   The first ingredient of courage is competence. If you know how to run into a   
   burning building to save people trapped there, then you are more likely to do   
   it than if you don’t. Competence is necessary for courage, and professions   
   demanding of courage †  
   “ the military, the firemen and the police – go to great lengths to train   
   people in them.   
      
   Another ingredient is caring. If you care about someone or something, then you   
   are more likely to do difficult and dangerous things for them than if you do   
   not. Similarly people who care about their country are more likely to put   
   their lives in line for    
   their country than people who do not.   
      
   Another – and something I’ve seen in some people – is the opposite: not   
   caring. Some people are daredevils who don’t care what happens to them and   
   do all sorts of death-defying things. The problem with these people is that   
   the risks that they    
   take are uncalculated, and often they seriously hurt themselves.   
      
   Another is ethics. If you believe that you are doing the right thing, then you   
   are more likely to act courageously than if you do not. Of course ethics can   
   be constituted in all sorts of ways, some better than others; and that someone   
   thinks that he is    
   ethical does not always mean that he is right.   
      
   Is courage a good thing? Yes it is. However it often is associated with things   
   that aren’t so good at all. The Texans and the Muslims are brave. They are   
   also rash and hot-headed, and they do stupid things.   
      
   One thing I’ve found in the people who were genuinely courageous is that   
   they did not claim to disown fear. They claimed willingness to act, however   
   afraid they were. The people who think that fear is at the root of the   
   problems of the world don’t    
   know what they are talking about. They haven’t been through experiences that   
   genuinely test courage. They have no authority on the matter.   
      
   Courage is something to teach and reward. However it needs to not be   
   identified with things that are wrong. Rashness, homophobia, misogyny and   
   other things that are taught in the same breath as courage discredit courage   
   by association. It is valid to    
   strive for courage; it is not valid to strive for these other things. And then   
   the value itself will be rewarded without being associated with things that   
   are wrong.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)