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Courage. What makes a King out of a slave? Courage.
What makes the flag on the mast to wave? Courage.
What makes the elephant charge his tusk in the misty mist or the dusky dusk?
What makes the muskrat guard his musk? Courage.
What makes the Sphinx the 7th Wonder? Courage.
What makes the dawn come up like THUNDER?! Courage.
Whatta they got that I ain't got? Courage!
The Cowardly Lion, from the movie "The Wizard of Oz."
I guess it goes without saying, but needs daily reminding, that people who consistently act courageously, are doing so out of the daily habit of courage. When you study courage and men and women who act courageously, they are people who have learned to act with courage despite their fears-fear of failing, fear of being injured or killed, whatever the fear is, they have learned to act despite the fear. Child birth by women (sometimes for the Dads too), requires courage despite modern medicine and epidurals. The very act of consciously having a child, I have found out, is an act of both Courage and of Hope. There is virtually no part of life, that I can think of that does not require some level of courage.
I think that much of the military training and weeding out process is finding men and women who have a sufficient amount of courage to get through Basic Training and OCS, and who have the capacity to increase their levels of courage and ability to withstand hardship and deprivations, to be successful Soldiers, Marines, Airmen, and Sailors. At least those are the conclusions I drew from my two sessions of Marine Corps OCS and TBS and eyeballing the more elite schools and courses in the US Military. Of course there are other attributes, such as the ability to function effectively as a part of a team, and the mastery of technical military skills, but if you don't have, and can't demonstrate, a minimum amount of moral and physical courage, you won't make it past the initial weeding out processes that the Military uses to screen its officers and enlisted.
Courage is learned, like leadership, and I also think it is a perishable skill, like leadership. I once had a former Vietnam War, Army Infantry Company Commander Combat Vet, who told me his conclusion, after seeing many Courageous Combat Leaders come and go in the Vietnam War, was "Your only as good as your last battle." This Distinguished Combat Infantry officer graduated from the Citadel in the 1960s as a Chinese American Cadet from Hong Kong. You don't think he learned his courage the hard way, being hazed at the Citadel for being an Asian on the “Rat Line” during the sixties?
The Citadel in Charleston, South Carolina did not graduate its first black Graduate until: "The first African American Cadet, entered The Citadel in 1966 and the first women entered the South Carolina Corps of Cadets in 1996. Cadets from many foreign countries have added to the cultural diversity of the Corps of Cadets since the 1920s, when the first Chinese students arrived . . . Today, the Citadel's Corps of Cadets represents a rich and diverse group of young men and women from across America and many different foreign countries, intent on preparing themselves to be principled leaders in their chosen fields of endeavor." The trials and tribulations of the Corps of Cadet’s first black graduate were dramatized in the book and later the film, “The Lords of Discipline.” For more about the Courageous story of Charles DeLesline Foster who was just a seventeen-year-old Black kid who wanted a college education when he joined The Citadel Corps of Cadets in 1966. What he got was a lesson in humility and a place in the history books as the corps’ first Black graduate.” He was their “Jackie Robinson,” See, http://diverseeducation.com/article/8050/ Despite its many minority graduates, the Citadel still struggles, just like the rest of our society, to stamp out racism and racists acts among its cadets. “At least eight Citadel cadets were suspended after photos of them appeared on social media wearing costumes resembling Ku Klux Klan hoods.”
Please see, http://www.postandcourier.com/article/20151210/PC16/151219964
A really good book I read awhile back had the title of "Feel the Fear, but Do It Anyway." by Susan Jeffers. http://www.amazon.com/Feel-Fear-Anyway%C2%AE-techniques-Indecision-ebook/dp/B008OXEROK/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid= [login to see] &sr=1-1&keywords=feel+the+fear
What makes the flag on the mast to wave? Courage.
What makes the elephant charge his tusk in the misty mist or the dusky dusk?
What makes the muskrat guard his musk? Courage.
What makes the Sphinx the 7th Wonder? Courage.
What makes the dawn come up like THUNDER?! Courage.
Whatta they got that I ain't got? Courage!
The Cowardly Lion, from the movie "The Wizard of Oz."
I guess it goes without saying, but needs daily reminding, that people who consistently act courageously, are doing so out of the daily habit of courage. When you study courage and men and women who act courageously, they are people who have learned to act with courage despite their fears-fear of failing, fear of being injured or killed, whatever the fear is, they have learned to act despite the fear. Child birth by women (sometimes for the Dads too), requires courage despite modern medicine and epidurals. The very act of consciously having a child, I have found out, is an act of both Courage and of Hope. There is virtually no part of life, that I can think of that does not require some level of courage.
I think that much of the military training and weeding out process is finding men and women who have a sufficient amount of courage to get through Basic Training and OCS, and who have the capacity to increase their levels of courage and ability to withstand hardship and deprivations, to be successful Soldiers, Marines, Airmen, and Sailors. At least those are the conclusions I drew from my two sessions of Marine Corps OCS and TBS and eyeballing the more elite schools and courses in the US Military. Of course there are other attributes, such as the ability to function effectively as a part of a team, and the mastery of technical military skills, but if you don't have, and can't demonstrate, a minimum amount of moral and physical courage, you won't make it past the initial weeding out processes that the Military uses to screen its officers and enlisted.
Courage is learned, like leadership, and I also think it is a perishable skill, like leadership. I once had a former Vietnam War, Army Infantry Company Commander Combat Vet, who told me his conclusion, after seeing many Courageous Combat Leaders come and go in the Vietnam War, was "Your only as good as your last battle." This Distinguished Combat Infantry officer graduated from the Citadel in the 1960s as a Chinese American Cadet from Hong Kong. You don't think he learned his courage the hard way, being hazed at the Citadel for being an Asian on the “Rat Line” during the sixties?
The Citadel in Charleston, South Carolina did not graduate its first black Graduate until: "The first African American Cadet, entered The Citadel in 1966 and the first women entered the South Carolina Corps of Cadets in 1996. Cadets from many foreign countries have added to the cultural diversity of the Corps of Cadets since the 1920s, when the first Chinese students arrived . . . Today, the Citadel's Corps of Cadets represents a rich and diverse group of young men and women from across America and many different foreign countries, intent on preparing themselves to be principled leaders in their chosen fields of endeavor." The trials and tribulations of the Corps of Cadet’s first black graduate were dramatized in the book and later the film, “The Lords of Discipline.” For more about the Courageous story of Charles DeLesline Foster who was just a seventeen-year-old Black kid who wanted a college education when he joined The Citadel Corps of Cadets in 1966. What he got was a lesson in humility and a place in the history books as the corps’ first Black graduate.” He was their “Jackie Robinson,” See, http://diverseeducation.com/article/8050/ Despite its many minority graduates, the Citadel still struggles, just like the rest of our society, to stamp out racism and racists acts among its cadets. “At least eight Citadel cadets were suspended after photos of them appeared on social media wearing costumes resembling Ku Klux Klan hoods.”
Please see, http://www.postandcourier.com/article/20151210/PC16/151219964
A really good book I read awhile back had the title of "Feel the Fear, but Do It Anyway." by Susan Jeffers. http://www.amazon.com/Feel-Fear-Anyway%C2%AE-techniques-Indecision-ebook/dp/B008OXEROK/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid= [login to see] &sr=1-1&keywords=feel+the+fear
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Courage
Heroes
Fear
Posted >1 y ago
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I think many of us study courage professionally and formally because we understand that we do not want to be found wanting in courage when that moment comes (and it will come for all of us) either professionally or personally, when we either respond to a situation with courage or not. It may come in the form of a death of a child (that I have seen too close and upfront, recently, when a former co-worker’s child was recently killed at 18 by the criminal acts of two driver's racing on a crowded freeway), or an illness that comes your way, in yourself or a loved one, or the loss of a job, or the end of a relationship or marriage. Or for those few among us who see combat in the US Military or are in harms way everyday as a Peace officer or a Firefighter (like my brother), and ultimately we must all face our death to this life and from this life, our mortality, with courage and grace, or not.
The ultimate "Prepping" is making courage a daily habit, and I think studying courage formally by reading widely across the curriculum about Courageous Men and Women. People like Anne Frank, and Helen Keller, and JFK and RFK, MLK, or Audie Murphy or Jackie Robinson, or Neil Armstrong, or Franklin or his cousin Teddy Roosevelt, or the men in the Hanoi Hilton who exhibited daily courage to defy their Torture and their Captors. We have so many wonderful examples to study. Even fictional characters, like the Count of Monte Christo, by Alexandre Dumas or Jean Val Jean from Les Miserables, by Victor Hugo that we can study and learn about courage, resilience, and grace, and even forgiveness. In the end I happen to think that a courageous life, and daily courage, is a form of grace that comes from the Almighty as do other forms of blessings.
The ultimate "Prepping" is making courage a daily habit, and I think studying courage formally by reading widely across the curriculum about Courageous Men and Women. People like Anne Frank, and Helen Keller, and JFK and RFK, MLK, or Audie Murphy or Jackie Robinson, or Neil Armstrong, or Franklin or his cousin Teddy Roosevelt, or the men in the Hanoi Hilton who exhibited daily courage to defy their Torture and their Captors. We have so many wonderful examples to study. Even fictional characters, like the Count of Monte Christo, by Alexandre Dumas or Jean Val Jean from Les Miserables, by Victor Hugo that we can study and learn about courage, resilience, and grace, and even forgiveness. In the end I happen to think that a courageous life, and daily courage, is a form of grace that comes from the Almighty as do other forms of blessings.
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The Citadel is and remains, one of the United State’s finest Military Colleges alongside the US Military Academies and VMI and the Texas Tech Corps of Cadets, and others I could name, and I was proud to have their graduates as my platoon mates at The Basic School, and later as fellow Marine Officers “in the Fleet.”
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