Courage
Created | Updated Jan 28, 2002
Courage is a concept most frequently defined by example rather than by explanation. That is, when asked the question "What is courage?" a person is more likely to respond "Courage is standing up to an angry lion" or "Courage is Jackie Robinson trotting out to the diamond as the first black man in major leage baseball" than "Courage is a personality trait characterized by indifference to danger" or some other such explanation.
Among high school students in the process of preparing their application forms for college, this unusual definatory habit is quite evident, as college admissions departments are disturbingly prone to ask applicants to write single page essays in response to the question "What is courage?" Applicants, instead of taking the obvious --and unfailingly accurate-- route and copying the definition of "courage" from the nearest dictionary, almost invariably write an essay about their dearly departed granddaddy who stood up to the neighborhood bully when he was five years old or some other such dubiously laudable achievement. In an extreme example, it is a well-worn legend among college applicants that one student, when faced with exactly the question at issue here --namely, "what is courage?"-- simply wrote the sentence "This is courage." and sent in his application. Of course, the legend ends with the student being admitted to the college and living happily ever after.(FN1)
So what, then, is courage? Courage, simply put, is a very, very dangerous trait for someone, especially a hitchhiker, to have. It is the ability to put aside one's own safety, often in the interest of ensuring someone else's. This can involve standing in front of someone about to be shot, or marching into battle in front of everyone else. It does not take a rocket scientist to recognize that such activities are extraordinarily dangerous and will severely limit a person's chances of achieving their lifetime ambitions, unless those ambitions involve winding up at the bottom of a deep dark hole. In the future, it may be possible to surgically remove courage from its unlucky carrier. In the meantime, it is strongly suggested that those afflicted with courage commit themselves to mental institutions where they can wile away the days in large padded rooms until they are relieved of their burden.
(FN1) It is curious to note that, although the mythical college is generally believed to be a prestigious one, it has nevertheless admitted a student whose example of courage is not very illuminating, as the student could have easily replaced the word "courage" with "lunacy" and the statement would have remained accurate.
Among high school students in the process of preparing their application forms for college, this unusual definatory habit is quite evident, as college admissions departments are disturbingly prone to ask applicants to write single page essays in response to the question "What is courage?" Applicants, instead of taking the obvious --and unfailingly accurate-- route and copying the definition of "courage" from the nearest dictionary, almost invariably write an essay about their dearly departed granddaddy who stood up to the neighborhood bully when he was five years old or some other such dubiously laudable achievement. In an extreme example, it is a well-worn legend among college applicants that one student, when faced with exactly the question at issue here --namely, "what is courage?"-- simply wrote the sentence "This is courage." and sent in his application. Of course, the legend ends with the student being admitted to the college and living happily ever after.(FN1)
So what, then, is courage? Courage, simply put, is a very, very dangerous trait for someone, especially a hitchhiker, to have. It is the ability to put aside one's own safety, often in the interest of ensuring someone else's. This can involve standing in front of someone about to be shot, or marching into battle in front of everyone else. It does not take a rocket scientist to recognize that such activities are extraordinarily dangerous and will severely limit a person's chances of achieving their lifetime ambitions, unless those ambitions involve winding up at the bottom of a deep dark hole. In the future, it may be possible to surgically remove courage from its unlucky carrier. In the meantime, it is strongly suggested that those afflicted with courage commit themselves to mental institutions where they can wile away the days in large padded rooms until they are relieved of their burden.
(FN1) It is curious to note that, although the mythical college is generally believed to be a prestigious one, it has nevertheless admitted a student whose example of courage is not very illuminating, as the student could have easily replaced the word "courage" with "lunacy" and the statement would have remained accurate.
