Can you teach courage?

[vaskidmark]

http://pointsandfigures.com/2014/09/28/can-you-teach-courage/

                                                                   

Courage comes in three different flavors; group, business and individual.  Often, we just think of the heroic military kind.  That kind of courage can be taught.  The military has streamlined the process.  Of course, people respond differently once they are in battle-but because they are all taught process and procedure so completely, they are able to react in the moment.

Countries or groups exhibit courage.  A protest march is an example of that.  It’s easier for individuals to feel like they have courage when they are part of a group.  The religious story of Peter and the denial of Jesus show how hard it is to follow through with that courage when you are away from the group.

Of course the standard response would be to start in on his list of those who are/can be courageous.

But that skips over the basic premise (which must be inferred) of what courage is.  From what he does not say, it seems "courage" is doing something that goes outside the comfort zone of certain people.

                                                                   

stay safe.

[Fitz]

I always told my troops that courage is NOT being fearless, but rather having the fear, and doing your job anyways. I know someone famous said something similar, and I paraphrased it. Not sure where it came from

[wmenorr67]

Several  "influential" people have said that or something similar over time to include Mandela but I believe it was Mark Twain that may have been the first "somebody" it can be attributed to.

[K Frame]

No, you can't teach courage.

But you can teach people who to deal with, and even suppress, their fear, and from there courage emerges.

[Tallpine]

Courage is being scared to death but saddling up anyway. [/jw]

[cassandra and sara's daddy]

I don't know if you can teach it but I have seen people learn it.


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[T.O.M.]

I always told my troops that courage is NOT being fearless, but rather having the fear, and doing your job anyways. I know someone famous said something similar, and I paraphrased it. Not sure where it came from

That is a lesson I'm trying to instill in the Scouts I work with.  Being brave doesn't mean you aren't afraid.  Being brave means that you overcome the fear to do what you have to do.  In the Scout context, it was teaching First Aid.  Trying to convince them that they need to practice the skills over and over, because that repetition will make a difference when they need to overcome fear and apply those skills...

Last fall, I had an opportunity to hear Salvatore Giunta speak.  

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salvatore_Giunta

He talked about the incident that led to his being awarded the Medal of Honor.  He talked about seeing his buddy get picked up the Taliban and seeing them carry him away, and how angry it made him.  And he knew he had to stop them.  It wasn't about making a decision to be courageous.  It wasn't a decision to be brave.  It was seeing something happening, and knowing he had to do something to stop them from taking his buddy away.  It was about acting for his buddy.  

Fitz, and a bunch of you other guys who have put on a uniform, you know what I'm talking about.  In general terms, you do the job for flag and country.  But, on the small terms, when it counts, when Sal Giunta stood up and ran after those guys, of when Lt. Michael Murphy walked out from cover to use the sat phone to call in help, it wasn't about USA, the Stars and Stripes, or anything like that. It was about the guys next to him.  You don't teach that.  But God help us, many great men and women sure as hell have learned it.

[wmenorr67]

In the Scout context, it was teaching First Aid.  Trying to convince them that they need to practice the skills over and over, because that repetition will make a difference when they need to overcome fear and apply those skills...

Another way to sort of put that is muscle memory, where a reaction is automatic based on the action.

[tokugawa]

It can be destroyed far easier than learned.... 

[cassandra and sara's daddy]

It can be destroyed far easier than learned....

Very very true
And i wavered on using inspired instead of learned.
Sometimes just knowing someone else has done it inspired me to give it a shot


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[Scout26]

Humans do not rise to the occasion, but fall back to the level of their training.

[vaskidmark]

Very very true
And i facilitated on using inspired instead of learned.
Sometimes just knowing someone else has done it inspired me to give it a shot


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Is it necessary to define "courage" before determining if it can be taught?  I think so, because Jeff Carter, the author of the article that spawned this discussion seems to be not alone in not knowing the difference between "courage" and "perseverance" or "inspiration" or "risk taking".  It may take courage to persevere, or to admit you are inspired (or what inspired you), or to go ahead and take a risk.  Or it could just take determination to achieve the end goal.

As examples: are firefighters "courageous" for entering a burning structure in order to extinguish the fire?  Is a mother "courageous" for lifting by brute force alone a car under which her child is trapped?  Is a medical worker courageous for traveling to Africa to treat Ebola victims?

Which brings up another question: are there degrees of courage?  We are all pretty good understanding the concept of "courage above and beyond the call of duty" and "courage at the risk of their own life".  Is a teen mother more courageous for giving up her child for adoption than the person who volunteers to be infected with a disease in order to test the effectiveness of an-as-yet unproved treatment?  Is the guy who jumps on a grenade to smother it more courageous than the medic/corpsman who crawls out under enemy fire into exposed territory to someone wounded?

I ask those questions because it is impossible to teach anything without having some knowledge about the subject.  (I could not perform a bellyflop properly if given three tries, but found out I could teach others how to dive competitively.  Your typical example of "Those who can, do.  Those who cant, teach.")  The point being that it is not necessary to be courageous, but presuming it is teachable you need to know what courage is before you teach it.

stay safe.

[vaskidmark]

Humans do not rise to the occasion, but fall back to the level of their training.

That only hold true for those that have trained.  Explain those who have never trained yet perform at an exceptional level.

stay safe.

[Fitz]

That is a lesson I'm trying to instill in the Scouts I work with.  Being brave doesn't mean you aren't afraid.  Being brave means that you overcome the fear to do what you have to do.  In the Scout context, it was teaching First Aid.  Trying to convince them that they need to practice the skills over and over, because that repetition will make a difference when they need to overcome fear and apply those skills...

Last fall, I had an opportunity to hear Salvatore Giunta speak.  

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salvatore_Giunta

He talked about the incident that led to his being awarded the Medal of Honor.  He talked about seeing his buddy get picked up the Taliban and seeing them carry him away, and how angry it made him.  And he knew he had to stop them.  It wasn't about making a decision to be courageous.  It wasn't a decision to be brave.  It was seeing something happening, and knowing he had to do something to stop them from taking his buddy away.  It was about acting for his buddy.  

Fitz, and a bunch of you other guys who have put on a uniform, you know what I'm talking about.  In general terms, you do the job for flag and country.  But, on the small terms, when it counts, when Sal Giunta stood up and ran after those guys, of when Lt. Michael Murphy walked out from cover to use the sat phone to call in help, it wasn't about USA, the Stars and Stripes, or anything like that. It was about the guys next to him.  You don't teach that.  But God help us, many great men and women sure as hell have learned it.

Yep. The things that have happened to me that I'm most proud of are the things done to take care of my guys, or the things my guys did to take care of me.

[T.O.M.]

That only hold true for those that have trained.  Explain those who have never trained yet perform at an exceptional level.

stay safe.

On January 13,1982, Air Florida Flight 90 crashed into the Potomac.  Congressional Budget Office employee Lenny Skutnic was watching rescue efforts from a helicopter, and saw Priscilla Tirado try to hold on to a rescue line and fall repeatedly, weakened from injuries and hypothermia.  Mr. Skutnic coimbed out of his car, stripped his coat, and dove into the frozen water, through the ice, and saved Ms. Tirado.  I have seen the video mahy times, and to this day I can remember watching the news as a 14 year old boy.  Don't know if you call that courage by an untrained person, but I still feel amazed by this man's actions that winter day, and it is one of my personal images for what the words Brave and Courage mean.

[tokugawa]

Half the Medals of Honor awarded on Iwo Jima where to men who threw themselves on grenades to save others.
Courage?  I say no. It was Love. Only love could act so quickly, so utterly unconcerned with consequence.