bravery and courage

Didn't mean to seem like I think my way is the only way, but it does work for me, and I have never gotten in over my head.

We act because we are afraid. I'd rather act out of fear of what might happen than not act out of fear of the same thing.

Kinda vague, no disrespect.

On bravery and courage (same thing), best I got is that fearlessness is not the key to courage; courage is being afraid and functionally persevering with the task at hand. Fear is vitally important, a man without fear is an idiot; toddlers are fearless and it's scary as all get out, because of the dangers, which toddlers are innocently ignorant of; a man without fear....won't last long at all. And the kicker is the smarter you get, the more scared $h!tle$$ you become, thus you'll develop courage by repeatedly doing things that you don't want to; bravery is usually inevitable in the course of a life, the first time the proverbial waters are rising and it's time to sink or swim.

I do not act out of fear, but because I choose to not accept the consequences of inaction. Are there things I fear? Well, I'm keenly aware of the risks I take, and I've taken reasonable precautions to cope with many scenarios, so those fears still exist, but they don't keep me from acting. But fear is not vital to courage. It can keep you alert for sure, but you don't HAVE to be afraid to act courageously.

What I meant by it is, if someone has a gun in my face, I am going to act out of fear, I'm going to fight, rather than sit there and not do a thing because I'm afraid to.

You cannot definitively say how you would act unless you have been in similar circumstances. Many people freeze in such a situation, others run. Some fight. Most people think they would fight, but when faced with reality, many who are killed never take defensive action.

I'd state my case again, but I'm pretty sure you'd put an amendment to your comment that it doesn't count if your father has a gun on you. I'm pretty certain that, no matter what I say, you would cut part of it down as that seems to be your modus operani.

....He kinda has a point there, lol.

Gauge is a good guy GP; I understand it may feel like cutting you down, but I think he's just analytical and thinks too much, I don't believe it's ever his intention to belittle or offend, just takes a little warming up to, don't take anything personally.

I am analytical, and when I say "you" I mean that in a broad sense. Generally speaking, that is. It's not meant to cut you down, but to share experiences. There is no imperative for you to agree.

The irony here is that I was speaking in a broader, general sense as well and took you literally. *shrugs* Glory of the internet.

So, I was basically just saying that, if the criminal intent is the same no matter what I do, I don't think I'm just going to sit there and let them do it.

Like the old lottery commercials, odds are 1:7 million if you play, considerably higher if you don't.

bravery is not for everyone. bravery is the strength of the great, the war of the machines, the power of the guiltless. For I, I am brave.

-My Senpai, Craig

Actually, humility is the true strength of the great. The strongest among us needn't be as brave as the weakest to achieve as much. It takes more courage for you to step into the ring with Bruce Lee than it does for him to step into the ring with you.

As a side note, there's a companion plant for strawberries called "borage" - little short bush with purple flowers. Napoleon used to drink it as a tea, and he became an Emperor. Knights would drink a preparation of it before battles in the Dark Ages - there is an old saying, "borage gives me courage". I haven't tried it yet, but as soon as I get some I'm making a tea and seeing if it helps my wife with her anxiety.

Courage is being scared...and saddling up anyway - John Wayne

Think about it.

Your welcome.

DarkShadow out

That is true, sir. However, it means that a person can be simultaneously courageous & quaking in their boots, feeling like they're about to vomit. I guess the question then is;

How do you cope with the nervous anxiety & get the job done until it's all over, when you can find a quiet corner & crumble in private?

I know I've been there, I once had to face down a mob of young men looking for trouble. I had no backup or support, no weapons. I was about 19. This one young man kept telling me to hit him, and I just kept calmly insisting I wouldn't, that this was a private party and they should leave. The kid started musing out loud about why I wouldn't hit him. Was I in some kind of martial arts class, perhaps? I just smiled mysteriously, and the crowd backed away, blinded by hours of cheap Hollywood action movies. They went home, I went inside, staggered past a few people congratulating me on defusing the situation, found a corner and curled up into a ball to shake uncontrollably for a while.

I'd done three weeks of Tae Kwon Do. I couldn't even throw a roundhouse kick. It would have ended up with me in hospital if they'd called my bluff. The only thing that saved me was some amateur acting experience and pure bluster.

My advice is to fake it until you make it. Force yourself to act confident. Maybe the reason heroes like to wear masks is because it does slip you into a theatrical role, it allows you to act as confident and powerful as you need to be. Let's not forget the ancient use of masks in religious ceremonies and mystery cults, as well as the theatre of Ancient Greece.

There are some who complain that it's hard to be brave when you're afraid. They're wrong. There's no other time you can be brave.

you can be brave when others are afraid.
if you are afraid then you are not at that time brave.
I don't think bravery is getting through fear, it is simply something you are or are not

I belive it's about having control over your body/emotions. Being able to act rationally when your body react to crisis. Being smart when others are trying to control their hormonal activity. Focus on what need to be done, figure how to do it while your blood is boiling.

Watching horror movies in a safe envirement can be effective for most people. Having your body reacting to fear without being in real danger is a good way to train the self control needed. If you want to get better at problem solving, there's something taught at most schools, mathematics.

You ask any soldier, and they're likely to tell you that being brave has nothing to do with being fearless. It's about overcoming your fear.

Fighting fires is often associated with courage or bravery; sometimes I'm a little conflicted on that; by and large, we all at the station love firefighting; when we train we refer to it as "going to play in the Burn Building"; it's fun for us.......usually; there's other times that bravery is a part of it; when you have to do something you don't want to do. For example on the Tetlin Ridge fire a couple spot fires ignited two piles of brush and cut trees we'd been clearing out; my boss went after the one on the left and told me to go after the one on the right before it climbed up the hillside; within seconds field had caught fire; I flanked it on the right to turn it towards the already burned black area where there's no fuel for it to eat; didn't quite go as I ended but I was able to follow it along to the base of a spruce where I'd started digging to smother it but I didn't see the creep fire in my haste to get the big one contained; the creep ignited the flash fuels around me and filled the whole area with thick white smoke and then ignited a branch on the tree (shit moves fast, gotta pay attention), I didn't bother beating the flames with my pulaski I just lopped off the branch and threw it into black area for it to burn itself out. I run up ahead of the fire after realizing it's pointless to try and keep up with it; I had to dig a ditch ahead of it so it wouldn't have anything to burn nearby. Got the ditch dug and just in time; I was maybe thirty feet away from a 20 foot high wall of fire. I took my ruck sack off as trained; almost as if I were going for my fire shelter but instead just heaved it north into the black along with my helmet and started running. Stein was just finishing up his fire now too and was headed over; I was laying on my back staring up at the sky and strange clouds tand colors that the fire acorss the mountains was creating; it's very own weather. I was still practically hyperventilating trying to catch my breath; my airways had been scorched and my feet had started boiling in their sweat when I was up to my knees in dirt, just digging like a maniac. 

I think back, and boy, it was hella fun, but it was kinda scary too; there were a couple moments when I had considered abandoning it, thinking that it was pointless; things can seem drastically more complicated and difficult when your blinded by smoke and struggling to breath as little of it in as you can (wildland firefighter don't have oxygen reserves or tanks; not sure why to be frank; I coulda used some XD). But why didn't I just step aside and let her burn? Well it's my job to put it out; I was given an order. in the moment; it doesn't feel like bravery or courage was a part of it, despite it feeling scary and overwhelming, (but insanely fun at the same time), it's only afterwards when you actually think about the definition of courage; being scared but doing what has to be done regardless. I did it cause it's my job; when my boss gives me an order abandoning it doesn't feel like an option (until of course it blatantly is; like if that wall of fire was faster than I had calculated and got 10 feet closer; coulda got a lot more than just a scorched airway and hot feet. Oh, and my pulaski guard melted to the chest of shirt; didn't get through the nomex though. Didn't even notice in the middle of my head pounding in my ears while hacking away at the earth.

Trying to get back on topic, nightmare, I'd recommend Geoff Thompson's books, mostly "Fear: The Friend Of Exceptional People".

After you've been in a lot of fights you aren't scared of fights anymore. After you've been shot at time and time again, you don't get scared of getting shot at anymore. The more familiar anything is to you, the less scary it is. We fear what we don't understand. If you don't understand how patrolling works or how gunfights work, you're going to be scared and of questionable use to anyone, so don't.

I wholeheartedly disagree that anyone will not be scared at the possibility of getting shot. You can train to cope with it, but even people who want to shoot themselves have trouble doing it.

I'm not. It happened a lot at my old job. I was just fine everytime. Getting shot isn't as scary as the movies make it look. Usually. Feels like getting stung by a bee. Most of the time they're fine, provided it's properly dressed as soon as possible. Then you get on up and keep shooting.

I'm going to run like hell the next time I see a bee.