When I think of courage a lot of things come to mind. As a boy growing up I always looked at courage as something that involved a test of physical strength. I used to love the old movie “Clash Of The Titans”. In that movie the lead character (Perseus) and his comrades fought everything from mystical beast like the Kraken to Medusa (who for those who don’t know can turn someone into stone with just one look) I could never imagine going on that journey with just a sword and shield.

 I ve always been amazed and inspired by how movies make you believe so much in the hero that you feel like you can do anything after the movie ends. I swore that I can beat up my older brothers after watching Rocky (painful lesson learned) or that somehow through the power of television I knew karate after watching a Bruce Lee movie (another lesson learned the hard way) Whatever the case may be the bottom line was I looked up to the courage that these characters displayed and always wanted to be the exact same way as they were in the face of danger.

Courage is according to Wikipedia the ability to confront fear, pain, risk, danger, uncertainty, or intimidation. So what immediately stands out in this definition to me is that courage is an ability. Then the next thing that gets my attention is the word confront. Lastly at the end of the definition it says uncertainty or intimidation.

Abilities can be learned. You can be a great shooter on the basketball court with practice. You can be a great mechanic if you do the proper training and research. You would then have the ability to shoot the ball and the ability to fix cars in both cases. Then I think about the word confront. To confront is to come face to face with whatever problem you are having. It could be another person, a difficult class etc. Confronting something is as easy as just doing it. (Which is easier said than done I know) When I was in 7th grade there was this bully in my school that was about five times bigger than every other kid (and maybe teacher) in the whole school. At this time I was an underwhelming 5ft 4 and a little chubby. One day this kid wanted to fight me (most likely because I might of said something wise to him) and there I stood in the hallway with a book in my hand looking up at this monster. My thinking was if he threw a punch at me and it didn’t end my life I could hit him with my book and easily run as fast as I could somewhere near Mexico. I knew he wouldn’t catch me because he weighed about 100lbs heavier than I did. Nothing ever happened in the hallway that day (luckily because there were teachers that must of sensed death and came walking towards us) but even to this day I wish I would of just took the beating and maybe in the course of me being torn apart my book might of been able to give him a paper cut somewhere. I never tell the kids I coach and train to fight people in school and during my time things were a lot different (we actually became friends later that year) but to stand up for yourself takes courage and that’s something I want them to have.

As a teenager and as an adult my courage has been tested as well. Not in just a physical way but also in terms of dealing with fear, uncertainty, or pain. The difference now as opposed to back then is that I have been in those situations before, so I can look back on them and say to myself “hey i ve been here before and I know I can get through it”. We all have had tough times we had to get through in life, and we did this by showing courage and confronting the problem head on. So if we can do it once why cant we do it every time?

The wizard of oz is one of the most famous children’s stories in the last sixty years or so. The lion was my least favorite character. The tin man didn’t have oil but he wasn’t that scared, the scarecrow didn’t have a brain so you couldn’t really fault him for anything, and Dorothy was a little girl, but the lion was for lack of a better word A LION. King of the jungle!! He wasn’t supposed to be afraid of anything, but there he was running behind Dorothy every time they were confronted by danger. At the end of the movie when he realized that there was nothing to be afraid of and that he always had the courage inside of him he was back acting like a lion should.

I feel the point is that we all have the courage inside of us to deal with whatever problems arise in our lives. The lion never believed in himself so he took the easy way out. Instead of confronting problems he ran from them. I was that lion in the hallway (without the running) I was also that lion when it came to trying in math class during high school. We all have been the lion (before) and the lion (after) in our lifetime. The key is to make sure that we use our past conquest to overcome our present and future problems.

Nowadays I try to throw myself into the fire as much as possible (figuratively speaking) I always wanted to learn guitar so I’m taking lessons, I ve competed in Brazilian jiu jitsu tournaments for the past 4 years just for the competition, and this year I’m coaching 10yr old girls (which might be the scariest thing of them all).

“The day you start feeling comfortable is the day you stopped pushing yourself to be the best you can be”