Anthony Smith

The definition of courage is the ability to confront fear, pain, danger, uncertainty, or intimidation. The origin of the word courage comes from the Latin word “cor” which means he*art. In three other languages, German, Italian, and Spanish the word courage is “mut, coraggio, and valor. ” My definition isn’t the same but basically means the same thing. Courage to me is not being afraid to be different, doing what you feel is right, stepping out side of your box and having heart. Like the little girl in Whale Rider did. Her grandfather told her plenty of times that she couldn’t be a whale rider. But the girl had courage, she felt in her heart that she was meant to be a whale rider and she proved everybody wrong. She also had courage when she road the whale because she knew that she could’ve died by doing that but she wasn’t scared she knew it’s what she had to do and she did it regardless of what everybody told her. In the story “Shooting an Elephant” the man had a different kind of courage he had Kodak courage, doing what is right at the time. Because he didn’t want to kill the elephant but he knew that if he didn’t he would be laughed at by the people. So instead of doing what he felt was right he did what he thought the people would want him to do.

I found a couple quotes by Eleanor Roosevelt and a couple unknown artists that I liked. These first two by Eleanor Roosevelt. “We gain strength, and courage, and confidence by each experience in which we really stop to look fear in the face…..we must do that which we think we cannot.” And then this one “Do what you feel in your heart to be right, for you’ll be criticized anyways.” These next two are by unknown artist. “Courage is not defined by those who fought and did not fall but by those who fought fell and rose again.” And this one “Man cannot discover new oceans unless he has the courage to lose sight of the shore.” I just think that these four quotes really define courage.
I found five websites with the word courage in it. www.wiwpedia.org says it is well known that physical and moral courage matters in the military. www.courage.org is a website for a mission courage center were the mission is to empower people with physical disabilities to reach for their full potential in every aspect of life. www.ejectejecteject.com says moral courage is the courage of the astronauts’ believing in space. www.fastcompany.com is a website about finding courage within you. www.couragecamp.com is a websites for courage camps.