Be Courageous like Christ

Be Courageous like Christ

Maya Angelou has well said: “Courage is the most important of all the virtues because without courage you cannot practise any other virtue consistently.” Those, who have made history, have been people of great courage and conviction. Courage has nothing to do with physical strength. It is the will to fight fearlessly any wrong that is happening around you. Raising your voice against all sorts of injustices, anomalies and discriminations is courage. It is the strength to express one’s views fearlessly and to listen to other’s view-point patiently. Courageous are the people who do what has to be done when it needs to be done, regardless of the consequences.

Generally, the world thinks that violent people are more courageous and powerful. But more courage and inner strength is needed to be non-violent. Forgiveness needs more courage than revenge. It is not easy to forgive one’s enemy. After the emergence of the new democratic South Africa, Nelson Mandela, who was imprisoned for twenty eight long years for opposing apartheid, appealed to fellow blacks to forgive the whites for the atrocities and brutalities they had committed while in power. Was it courage or cowardliness? It needs great spiritual strength to say like Jesus Christ, “O Lord! Forgive them for they know not what they are doing.”

Saying yes to the right thing and saying no to the wrong thing demand indomitable courage. Very few people support even the right thing if it is against their selfish interest. Similarly, saying no to the wrong thing is to expose oneself to the danger of displeasing the wrong doer. Hence, courage is the moral power to stand for the right and oppose the wrong.