I like the word courage. I like the idea of courage. I think I'm a courageous leader at work. I was courageous when I ended my marriage, and when I biked 400 miles alone. I'm think I'm even courageous when I do a simple thing like check the air in my tires when I'm not near a compressor (I have an awful time with those stupid gauges and there's a high likelihood I could leave the tire undriveable before I get a reading). But there's a different kind of courage in someone who sees others in danger and runs towards it, not away. Last week, three Americans in Paris, on a train, did just that.
Some news program had a military person talking about Army training and I wish I could hear it again. If I remember right, he essentially said soldiers are trained to rapidly assess a threat, generate possible actions, select one and then fully commit to it. It's that last part I keep thinking about. Once you decide to act, you do it like your life depends on it. How often do we fully commit to something, even things less threatening than a terrorist? i know I have a tendency to always keep something in reserve... some doubt, some exit plan.... But back to courage:
The USAToday had a great editorial, "About To Die? Do Something!" The headline alone made me read it. Glenn Harlan Reynolds, a UTenn law professor, wrote, " The purpose of terror is to terrorize. But responding appropriately has the opposite effect. ... Fear is contagious. But so is courage. People should respond not like a herd of sheep but like a pack of wolves." Isn't that spot-on? He cited United Flight 93 on 9/11 as an example that the response of ordinary Americans on this flight meant that a repeat of the attacks would be much less likely. "United Flight 93 did not hit a building. It did not kill anyone on the ground....why? Because it had informed Americans on board who'd had 109 minutes to come up with a counteraction."
I hope I don't ever encounter a situation needing this kind of courage, but if I do, I hope I rise to the occasion.
Some news program had a military person talking about Army training and I wish I could hear it again. If I remember right, he essentially said soldiers are trained to rapidly assess a threat, generate possible actions, select one and then fully commit to it. It's that last part I keep thinking about. Once you decide to act, you do it like your life depends on it. How often do we fully commit to something, even things less threatening than a terrorist? i know I have a tendency to always keep something in reserve... some doubt, some exit plan.... But back to courage:
The USAToday had a great editorial, "About To Die? Do Something!" The headline alone made me read it. Glenn Harlan Reynolds, a UTenn law professor, wrote, " The purpose of terror is to terrorize. But responding appropriately has the opposite effect. ... Fear is contagious. But so is courage. People should respond not like a herd of sheep but like a pack of wolves." Isn't that spot-on? He cited United Flight 93 on 9/11 as an example that the response of ordinary Americans on this flight meant that a repeat of the attacks would be much less likely. "United Flight 93 did not hit a building. It did not kill anyone on the ground....why? Because it had informed Americans on board who'd had 109 minutes to come up with a counteraction."
I hope I don't ever encounter a situation needing this kind of courage, but if I do, I hope I rise to the occasion.