The Concept Of Bravery: Ready To Face And Endure Danger Or Pain (Essay Sample)

Bravery in an Unbiased Way Name Institutional Affiliation Introduction The word 'Bravery' has its origins from France at around the 15th-16th Century. The word is coined from the French word 'braverie' that loosely translates to Brave. However, the word bravery is deemed to have also originated from an Italian word 'braveria' meaning bold. As we define the word Brave we must keep at the back of minds that English heavily borrows most of its vocabulary from the now dead language Latin. The root of the word 'brave' is from the Latin word 'barbarus'. Hence the famous English word Barbaric(commonly meaning senseless, fearless, uncultured, acting without any human consideration. Bravery is on many occasions confused with rash decisions. Imagine a person putting their rent/ school fees money on a bet? Would this be considered an act of bravery? Some quotas of the society may applaud such a move as courageous while some will deem such a move timid and reckless. This paper endeavours to elucidate in clear terms unbiased bravery from different sources and ultimately give my own analysis of the terminology. The Oxford dictionary primarily defines 'brave' as follows “Ready to face and endure danger or pain; showing courage.” According to Merriam Websiter bravery can be defined as “The quality or state of having or showing mental or moral strength to face danger, fear, or difficulty: the quality or state of being Brave: COURAGE showing bravery under fire.” Vocabulary.com Dictionary defines bravery as “the admirable quality of being able to confront frightening things. It takes bravery for a knight to battle a dragon, but it also takes bravery for a shy child to walk into a new classroom” According to (Eisenberger, 1992 p. 213) Bravery is; “...saying what you believe in out loud. To the person who need to hear it. Even if that person is you. It, is having honest communication with yourself, your teams, your communities. Bravery is saying no when you need to. Its saying no to the wrong things so that you can say yes to the right things. Bravery is having the courage to quit when you know you are on the wrong track, even if hundreds of thousands of people are headed in one direction. Its knowing when the path you are on isn't the one for you. Its taking the scary leap, swimming upstream, or wandering down unfamiliar paths. Bravery is saying something different and showing empathy for our peers around the world. Its not jumping to conclusions too quickly. Its remembering what we stand for and believing in the best for us.” Strictly speaking their is no definite definition to the term bravery though their are different attempts by different scholars and authorities to define it as stated above. I can define bravery as the courage, strength, will-power, the drive and the consciousness to face any challenging situation, doing things either in unique circumstances or ordinary conditions. Bravery is both mental and moral. Mental bravery is that intellectual ability to critically analyze a given situation giving your best to mental capabilities to discern and come up with an everlasting solution. Moral bravery too has to deal with with the ethical considerations before taking up an action. This is in tune with the perception of the person acting. I can speak up against abuse of human rights, exploitation of workers, child abuse this can be often resisted with persecution from authorities implementing such unethical directives. It will be my moral bravery that will stand up against such almost acceptable actions that are ethically untenable. Bravery presupposes endurance, dedication to the course in terms of perseverance and persistence (White & Evans, 1981 pp. 17-27). The consistence that gives you the impetus to move from one position to the next. Saying what you mean and standing up for what is right. Saying enough is enough. Putting an end to the status quo, uplifting the downtrodden, speaking for the voiceless, standing against oppression and injustice. The direct opposite for bravery is Fear. Fear is a weakness, its a liability, its a competitor. Most people have fears of death, getting sick, rejection and failure. Bravery is a tenet that goes beyond average perception of danger to face it, to look pain the face and work around it without any sign of fear. The word bravery has many Synonyms but those that succinctly brings out the meaning include; fearless and courageous (Peterson, & Selgman, 2004 P. 130-240) . Most people often confuse bravery with doing things that are out of this world and not in all cases though on the higher probability its doing things in unique situations. Most likely if one takes a decision to run for a political office its an act of bravery. One can loose and hence the thought of shame and grief of losing is dangerous. A brave person will vie for the seat despite the outcome. How...