Brave is not one who is never afraid.
Aristotle once said, “We become brave by doing brave acts,” Every one of us desire to perform brave and courageous deeds and love to be called brave and intrepid. But standing ground against dangerous and threatening things is not to be confused with fearlessness, however.
The brave person is not one who is never afraid. Such a person, rather, may rightly be called rash or reckless. This sort of man can prove to be more harmful and dangerous rather than any help or succour in an emergency. This person needs to be educated that discretion is a better part of valour. A line should be drawn between intrepidity and foolishness.
In Moby-Dick, the novel written by the great American novelist, Hermen Melville, where Starbuck, the chief mate addressed the crew. “ I will have no man in my boat who is not afraid of a whale.” By this, he seemed to mean, not only the most reliable and useful courage was that which arises from the fair estimation of the encountered peril, but that an utterly fearless man is a far more dangerous comrade than a coward.
As the proverb goes, “Foolish treads the path where angels fear”, there are certain ambitious and unthoughtful people who creates problem for themselves by their irrational and insensible approach. They even put their lives in danger in their vain attempt to perform heroic acts with little regard of risks attached with them.
It is, therefore, indispensable to understand that courage is a settled disposition to feel appropriate degree of fear and confidence in challenging situations. Such an approach will go a long way to help us deal all kinds of situation successfully without taking any unnecessary risks.
