Tapsearch Com EditorCourage and Fear
Link: www.therationale.com
By Ray Tapajna taken from notes from Father McQuade SJ JCU course - Personality and Character Exploring Courage and Fear
President Franklin Roosevelt said the only thing you have to fear is fear itself. Anyone who has suffered a severe illness may find that the fear comes into their being in a radical way.
Fear perphaps causes the more unhappiness than other emotions. It ranks well to the top. Fear is an emotion where we shrink from danger; courage is an emotion where we face it. Fear carries with it panic and terror. Courage provides us the power to deal wtih difficulties with a calmness and a practical action. While these two emotions seem to be very different, they connect with each other in certain ways. A courageous heart does not exclude fear. It finds ways to control it. In war only a foolish person feels no fear. Courage has the power to modify fear. It gives a person the power to carry on in spite of fear. Fear serves a purpose for self-preservation. It judges the risks involved. If fear induces panic, courage can step in and keep its head.
Many fears have no rational explanation. Such fears are called phobias. A person who can easily converse in small groups and holds a great command of language, sometimes finds it impossible to speak to a large group. The same goes for performing a talent. Why within the rational realm does this happen. Why can a person find it difficult to talk to fifty people at one time rather than just one or two. Some fear high places , some fo closed places. Some fear crowds, others fear the dark, Some fear germs, others feat insanity. Some fear ther own sex, others those of the opposite sex. But in all these fears, there is no rational basis.
For the sake of our life ideal and our happiness, it is essential, we take control over our fears. The way to do this is to face reality and judge every situation on a rational basis. With this process, the fear will fade away or it will at least become manageable.
Many have been heard to say, "I have had many troubles in lfie, but most of them never happened" or take a lesson from a famous saying - We fear the things that we think, instead of the things that are.
If our fears are out of order, we can begin to seek our life ideal in better ways. We can reconstruct our personality as we abstract unreasonable fears. We can live as if almost every fear that we experience is really exaggerated, even the fear of death itself.
We can build up courage the same way we overcome fears. A public speaker who fears yawns can have a practice session where all his listeners can yawn over and over again while he speaks. We can practice some of these things ourselves.
Father McQuade gives the example of what happens to new novices in the Jesuit community. Each young Jesuit is made to give a sermon in the dining room while everyone else carries on with their meal. Nothing works better than a young Jesuit in the process of making his essentiall point, have someone in the crowd ask someone else to pass the pork and beans.
Many workers tend to hold back their public speaking because of their grammar. However today their style is considered part of their nature just as it when someone from Harvard speaks. The Harvard man may talk well but in the end says nothing that is a reality in the streets or in the workplace. This brings us to another way to find courage. Study the lives of courageous people from every walk of life. There is always someone somewhere that lived through the similar experience as you who demonstrated valor and courage.
Let some of these things become habitual. Practice them in small ways first and then reach farther out to the places you want to reach to change things or make a difference. I found a vast void between the factory floors and the college class room. Both had their share of ignorance and both had their share of brilliance beyond the style of language they used.
Let your voice be heard in the global economic arena with courage to seek the common good for all.
