You Do Not Need a Cape to Be Courageous

The Virtue of Fortitude in Ordinary Life

Little boys recognize courage when they see it. It wears a cape. It runs into burning buildings. It pulls people from wrecked cars, kicks down doors, takes bullets, lifts beams, and charges into the fray. In that sense, children realize courage has something to do with danger, cost, sacrifice, and stepping toward what other people run from. The world is right to honor the firefighter, the paramedic, the police officer, the soldier, and other men or women who move toward danger while the rest of us step back. A man who risks his own skin so that someone else can live has done something noble. But somewhere between boyhood and adulthood, our understanding of courage often becomes shallower, not deeper. We keep the love of spectacle and lose the love of steadfastness.