A Brief History
On September 28, 2018, the 4th Thursday in September, we celebrate National Brave Day. We take this opportunity to discuss what exactly is courage, bravery, valor, any of the synonyms for doing brave things or having the quality to act in the face of danger or highly distasteful consequences. We will discuss some ways to define bravery/courage, some brave people, and of course how to celebrate National Brave Day.
Digging Deeper
Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary defines “brave” as “having or showing mental or moral strength to face danger, fear, or difficulty : having or showing courage” in its adjective form. The same source defines “courage” as “mental or moral strength to venture, persevere, and withstand danger, fear, or difficulty.” Thus, bravery, courage, valor and whatever other words you can think of to describe a brave or courageous person means simply acting in the morally correct way in the face of physical, financial, social, or other forms of danger or results not advantageous to the person acting bravely. It means doing the right thing even though the actor may suffer physical or other harm. A whistleblower may face losing his or her job for ratting out an unsafe or illegal business practice, or an altar boy may face peer ridicule for telling on an abusive priest. A fireman rushing into a burning building to save another person is putting himself or herself in grave physical danger for the benefit of someone else. Oftentimes being brave is as simple as telling the truth, even though by doing so you face unpleasant consequences.
Heroes and heroines often say that they are not a hero and are not brave, that they were in fact terrified during their feat or feats of courage and valor. To the contrary, courage or bravery is doing something in the face of fear, not at all meaning not having any fear. People fear being killed, crippled, maimed, ostracized, fired, jailed and other bad consequences. Courageous and brave people do the right thing anyway.
George Washington, our first President, has long been used as an example of courage for owning up to cutting down his father’s cherry tree. While that story is mere legend, the real Washington was perhaps the richest man in the American Colonies and he risked his life and wealth to revolt against British tyranny and help create the United States. John F. Kennedy knew he was in grave danger when he repeatedly swam out into shark infested waters in an effort to flag down a friendly boat or ship to rescue his shipwrecked crew. Yet he faced his fears and risked his life to save his men, as military people have done throughout history. Martin Luther King, Jr., was well aware of the danger to his life because of his fight for Equal Rights, and yet he persisted unrestrained until he was indeed made a martyr to his cause. Police and firefighters risk their physical lives often and are frequently portrayed on television and movies as brave people, but other citizens can also be courageous and brave as well. The first African American students to integrate Southern colleges and schools had to be brave in a big way to face the physical and social dangers thrust at them. People have bravely died for their beliefs, whether religious, as in Joan of Arc and other martyrs. Or suffered death or incarceration for political and moral beliefs such as Gandhi or Mandela. Germans that helped Jews during World War II sometimes lost their own freedom and lives for the courage of their convictions.
The blinded or crippled person that fights through their disability to live as full a life as possible instead of just giving up is brave. The doctors and nurses that travel to far off third world countries to fight epidemics of horrible diseases are putting their lives at risk and not even getting the flashy press for it. Civilians from every walk of life, every age, every race, every religion, and of every description everyday prove themselves capable of great feats of bravery. Our recent natural disasters prove this. Test pilots, race car drivers, astronauts and deep sea explorers risk their lives every time they go to work, displaying a persistent, ongoing bravery. A child standing up to a bully on behalf of another child even knowing a beating will follow is as brave as any military hero.
Speaking of military heroes, one of our favorites at History and Headlines is Audie Murphy, former US Army soldier. Another is US Marine Corps legend Smedley Butler, and another US Marine Dan Daley. Of course, speaking of Marines, Chesty Puller, winner of 5 Navy Cross medals is right up there. World War II bomber crews and submarine crews had to be crazy brave to sally forth in the face long odds against survival. Modern Special Forces elite soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines likewise. Do not forget about women in the military, not just those on the front lines today, but those that flew ferry missions with bombers to overseas bases in harsh weather and those nurses that served and sacrificed throughout history. Some women even went in disguise as men in order to serve in combat.
So, this brings us to how we can celebrate National Brave Day ourselves. For starters, this holiday was started by women, specifically by Sweetlife women, a church related group dedicated to helping women. Obviously, women have as much to be brave about as men, as do boys and girls. We can honor the idea of National Brave Day by being friendly with someone that is a social pariah. We can be honest about something, even if it is not to our advantage. We can encourage other people to be brave by standing with them and helping them or setting an example. We can have the courage to stand up to people making jokes about someone else’s race, gender, or physical appearance.
Question for students (and subscribers): How can you celebrate National Brave Day? How about other people? Who do you think is brave today? Who is your favorite historical brave person or persons? Have you ever done anything particularly brave? Have you personally witnessed courage in action? Please let us know in the comments section below this article.
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Historical Evidence
For more information, please see…
Alan, Scott. Do It Scared: Charge Forward With Confidence, Conquer Resistance, and Break Through Your Limitations. Amazon Digital, 2017.
Honegger, Jessica. Imperfect Courage. WaterBrook, 2018.
Gunderson, Jessica, Adam Miller, and Steven Otfinoski. Courage Under Fire: True Stories of Bravery from the U.S. Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marines. Capstone Press, 2014.
The featured image in this article, a drawing from the San Fransisco Call newspaper (22 July 1900), showing Smedley Butler being carried on the back of Capt. Henry Leonard at the Battle of Tientsin in 1900, is cropped and removed a large portion of other images that was superimposed on this one. This media file is in the public domain in the United States. This applies to U.S. works where the copyright has expired, often because its first publication occurred prior to January 1, 1923. See this page for further explanation.