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This is a cross-post from my blog One Brave Thing.
Hey Siri, what is bravery? I asked my phone.
The response? Courage (also called bravery or valour) is the choice and willingness to confront agony, pain, danger, uncertainty or intimidation. Valour is courage or bravery, especially in battle. Physical courage is bravery in the face of physical pain, hardship, even death, or threat of death; while moral courage is the ability to act rightly in the face of popular opposition, shame, scandal, discouragement, or personal loss.
I asked Google Image to show me pictures of bravery and most involve a thin, physically fit Caucasian person doing something stupid daring like leaping across small rocky ravines or climbing the face of a craggy mountain or tiptoeing across a precariously slung rope many feet high. None of those pictures speak to me about bravery.
For me bravery feels quiet, understated, a thing you have to get through. A push your shoulders back, swallow that lump in your throat, steady your shaking hands and go for it. Without someone there with a camera documenting it all, who has the emergency services on speed dial just in case worst pops by for a visit.
When I think of bravery, I think of stoic bravery. Steely resolve. Determination. And maybe there is no difference, maybe the…
