In other words, will a courageous person always step up to the plate, and a coward always tuck his tail and hide? Do they have any control over it?
That sounds about right.
O_o You broke my brain.
I saw that one, but it discusses a gene for aggression, which I think is separate from heroism/ courage.
yus! mwhahahaha! >:0)
I tend to think this is something we definitely have control over, people can change... when they want to, that is.
That's easy, it's written on the stars, or on the genes. One of the two.
"Against the wall" is not always definable until it happens. Take the Colorado mother that fought the mountain lion that attacked her child, for example...she probably would never have imagined she could take on such an animal, but she reacted instinctively. Certainly there are people who do not act even when it is the only option for survival, but I think that most of us are capable of far more than we can imagine.
I think they can change.... I'm a lot more courageous now.
I really don't know.
People have told me I was courageous for getting back in the saddle after four broken ribs and a punctured lung that landed me in hospital. But I was trained to get back on after falling off. I don't call that courage.
It took courage to go through therapy. Before facing an issue from the past, my fear was the same fear I felt as a child, overwhelming. During the process of talking about what happened, the feelings shifted. I refaced the old situations with the awareness of an adult and met them head on. Coming out the other side, I always found it was not so terrible.
Courage, to me, means feeling fear and going ahead and facing the feared thing anyway. I only do this if there's a very good reason, and when I do, I prepare, so I can minimise the risk as much as possible. Examples have included learning to drive a car, handle a chainsaw, stick weld and drive a tractor on steep hills.
I have faced a fire started by my demented mother. I had to haul her out and set her in her wheel-chair. The fire had burned out the electrics so there was no pump for the water. Ari and I had to carry buckets from the horse trough to throw on the flames.
But ask me to ask a smoker to put out the cigarette and suddenly I'm stuck. I cannot do it. I can't understand it or explain it. I'm terrified of how the smoker might react.
I think that they are fluid traits. Courage can be found and utilized to varying degrees. Cowardice can be resorted to for any number of self serving reasons.
Wow. Sounds like you have had some serious experiences. I think I would call most of that courage as well. The smoker thing is probably a social thing and an etiquette thing, which I don't think has much to do with courage at all. Just my thoughts, though. Thank you for sharing. :)
Perhaps.
