The Definition of Courage

The Definition of Courage Throughout each and every day, the courage of many people is tested in various ways. Whether it is a firefighter risking his life for others, an acrophobic going skydiving, or someone simply making friends with a stranger. To me courage is being able to control your emotions and do what is needed to be done, despite any danger or risks. The textbook definition of courage is the quality of mind or spirit that enables a person to face difficulty, danger, pain, etc., without fear; bravery. However, courage is not simply having the will to do something you do not have to do, it is much more than that. Having courage can mean a plethora of things. It could mean being able to remain level-headed in a dangerous situation. Like a firefighter going into a burning building to save a kitten. It is that thought in the back of your head you have that says everything will be okay and keeps you going even though you feel like you are going to die. This could even apply to a mere child going through a haunted house on halloween. In the dictionary, it says the definition of courage is the quality of mind or spirit that enables a person to face difficulty, danger, pain, etc., without fear; bravery. With that, you could say someone with courage could be a rock climber, trusting himself and his equipment with his very own life. Without courage, the person would not be able to overcome their fear of falling and dying. It is almost vital to have courage in today's world. Even if it is just having the courage to be kind, true, merciful, generous, or honest. There are many things that people are faced with every day challenging their courage. However, courage is not just a matter of not being afraid of something. Courage is being afraid and still doing what you have to do anyway. Those are two completely different things. Being daring enough to do something potentially dangerous does not necessarily make you courageous. Having no fear of absolutely nothing is essentially having an abundance of ignorance. Everybody has potential to accomplish things in them. However, not everybody is really born with what it takes to do many things. One might say courage is having the ability to disregard any ounce of fear and follow through with a dangerous or riskful task. Which, a personal definition, could actually be found similar or very different from the dictionary's definition. Either way, having courage is much more than just ignoring fear and ignorantly putting yourself in a dangerous situation.