When You Possess a Different Kind Courage

Because difficult times require us to be brave

“It is curious that physical courage should be so common in the world and moral courage so rare.” — Mark Twain

There is a different kind of courage. The kind of courage the world needs today.

It is not the courage of the fearful, the kind possessed by those who pretend to be brave. It is not the courage of the weak, the kind possessed by those who pretend to be strong. For these kinds of courage bring about chaos and misery. They bring about darkness because they are afraid to be found out by the light.

But the kind of courage we need is the courage of those who are strong within, they who are brave from their very hearts. This kind of courage does not boast. It does not threaten. But it is constant and confident. It is pure and true.

This kind of courage comes from a heart that knows how to love. Love whose aim is not to destroy but to build, not to kill but to defend life.

There is a different kind of courage, the kind the world does not often see or believe in. For to the world, courage has become a sort of a license to merely do what one wills. To the world, it is the violent man that is brave. It is the man that speaks loudly. It is the man that imposes and forces his own will so that others may obey in fear.

Yet what is courage? It is the willingness to stand alone if that’s what it takes to express his or her faith. It is refusing to do something wrong even if everyone else is doing it. It is acknowledging one’s mistakes. It is being able to speak softly even when others are already being rude.

What kind of courage do you wish to have today?

“I learned that it is the weak who are cruel, and that gentleness is to be expected only from the strong.”

— Leo Rosten, Captain Newman, M.D.

Tell Me That You’re Brave

Tell me that you are brave,

And you would not hurt a man

Just because you’re afraid.

Tell me that your courage is true,

And cruel words would not hide

Your cowardice for you.

For true courage need not yell,

It need not boast because all could tell,

When one’s heart is aflame with love,

And the soul is filled with faith from above.

To evil, it will not yield,

It is firm and it will believe.

To darkness, it will not bow,

For in light it stands on solid ground.