Courage Essay

Courage What makes someone courageous? Society would have us believe in order to be courageous you have to run into burning buildings or defeat the biggest “bad guy”. They would say courage is hurdling over the major obstacles. While it does take courage to do those things, is that all courage is? I don’t believe it is. Why do we have to do something over the top to be considered courageous? I say courage is being able to get out of bed even when you feel that you are at your lowest. When someone has failed at a task and has the willpower to go at it again, should that not be seen as courage? I believe even the smaller obstacles you have to overcome should be recognized as courage as well. The getting over the big, bad problems should not be the only definition of courage. My definition of courage is the willingness to try with the possibility of failure or defeat and when failure and defeat come, trying again. Putting courage into such a small box doesn’t give us, as people, enough credit. A lot of what we do is trial and error, so the fact that we put ourselves out there is courageous. People go through their own silent battles on a daily basis. Even though they are silent, they should still know there is courage in fighting the battle, and it should be celebrated. I know from personal experience how many times someone has commented on how brave I am and I have just brushed it off. I would say things like “it’s not a big deal”, “I didn’t really do much”, or “there are people fighting bigger battles.” This is something that happens far too often. I have also witnessed other people saying similar things. We are made to believe we are less when we fail or that the smaller barriers are not as important. They are seen as insignificant, even in our own eyes. All the problems we face head on and conquer, no matter how many tries it takes, should be seen as courage. For example, someone struggling with depression, often times, does not have the strength or energy to get out of bed, but these people still do it. They get up every day to try again. Depression is something that society likes to minimize. A lot of the time you will hear people say things like “cheer up” or “I get sad sometimes too.” Depression is so much more than sadness and, in all reality, people who are battling depression are some of the most courageous people that there are. They get up, go to work, and still manage to take care of what needs to be done. I have seen this especially in mothers. New mothers that struggle with post-partum depression show great amounts of courage. They are self-less and find the courage to keep pushing through for their baby. For the ones who can’t muster through it and seek out help, they are even more courageous. Asking for help when you need it can be one of the bravest and biggest acts of courage. People tend to look past acts this small. I do not! There is a fear of rejection and ridicule when it comes to asking for help. What is courage, if not overcoming that fear? When someone is in need of help, they will often just struggle on the inside. They wind up feeling overwhelmed or alone in situations, when they don’t need to. I believe that people are generally good and if someone cares about you, they would not want you to suffer in silence. Asking for help is definitely one of my biggest struggles, but overcoming whatever fear is going on inside you to ask for help is not something to take lightly. We all need help sometimes and it is okay to ask for help in fighting your battle. Courage, in larger battles, is more recognizable and they definitely do deserve to receive praise as well, but we shouldn’t dismiss smaller battles. The small fights are what builds us up to be ready for the intense wars. The intense wars are what we will ultimately remember. We often forget the small milestones that lead us to where we are. Whether it be starting school, choosing a new career path, or even just getting out of bed, these all are courageous acts. Going into the unknown takes an immense amount of courage. The places we haven’t been to yet causes fear in many people. When we overcome the fear, THAT is courage. We get to where we need to be by enacting the small courageous steps. This is why I feel my definition of courage should be THE definition of courage. Think about your writing. I. The significance in my essay is being able to celebrate small acts of courage, as well as the bigger acts. Courage is something powerful that we all have inside of us. It is important to recognize all of the courageous moments. II. I think my third and fourth paragraph would benefit the most. I really struggled to think of relevant information to put in those paragraphs. I still feel that they are lacking something. III. For me the easiest part was coming up with what courage meant to me. The hardest part was fining enough relevant information to meet the requirements of the essay. I also feel that my wording was very repetitive.