Open Thread - 08-12-22 - Courage

Courage comes in many forms. I believe it is inherent in all of us. Fear is the great inhibitor that may push it to the side or the catalyst that may bring it front and center. It may lay dormant, sometimes forever suppressed or it may ooze from every pore. Some may bluster about their courage only to fold under duress, some may be as timid as a mouse but rise as a lion in the face of adversity. Courage is an attribute that may manifest itself in ways that are totally surprising to the individual.

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The definition of courage, before it gets pusillanimously redefined:

According to Miriam Webster: mental or moral strength to venture, persevere, and withstand danger, fear, or difficulty

Synonyms: bottle [British slang], bravery, courageousness, daring, daringness, dauntlessness, doughtiness, fearlessness, gallantry, greatheartedness, guts, gutsiness, hardihood, heart, heroism, intestinal fortitude, intrepidity, intrepidness, moxie, nerve, pecker [chiefly British], prowess, stoutness, valor, virtue

Antonyms: cowardice, cowardliness, cravenness, dastardliness, poltroonery, spinelessness

Source

According to this site there are six forms of courage:

Courage is something that everybody wants, yet courage is not just physical bravery. In general, there are six types of courage we may need to face life challenges:

1. Physical courage – Feeling fear yet choosing to act. Involves bravery at the risk of bodily harm or death; and, developing physical strength, resilience and awareness.

2. Emotional courage – Following our heart. Open us to feeling the full spectrum of emotions – pleasant and unpleasant – without attachment.

3. Intellectual courage – Expanding our horizons, letting go of the familiar. It is about our willingness to learn, unlearn and relearn with an open and flexible mind.

4. Social courage – To be ourself in the face of adversity. Involves the risk of social embarrassment or exclusion, unpopularity or rejection. It also involves leadership.

5. Moral courage – Standing up for what is right. Involves doing the right thing even when it is uncomfortable or unpopular.

6. Spiritual courage – Facing pain with dignity or faith. It helps us live with purpose and meaning through a heart centred approach towards all life and oneself.

Source

As a courageous patriot once said:

THESE are the times that try men's souls. ~Thomas Paine from The Crisis December 23, 1776

Source

Authors note: Please go to the source and read the essay to gain a better understanding of the meaning of courage.

Stand up, face your fear and don't back down.
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Courage is expressing the strength of conviction, to undertake a task without the fear of failure.
Whether the task succeeds or fails, the act provides a learning opportunity. Risking uncharted
territory is what enhances potential adventure.

Thanks for the OT!

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@QMS
it is now.

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Good morning, JtC and Caucus 99

It takes some courage to notice and comment publicly about what we see as the Empire Fails.

Even if our views are unpopular with our peers on this open-minded blog.

Let's not just go with the flow, but continue to think and break new ground, if/when we see it.

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NYCVG

@NYCVG
The plan is for us to to hate one another. To recede into our safe places and whatever you do don't interact with the other side.

We are creating our own prisons. We are building our own walls.

The propaganda is meant to turn us against one another. The gas lighting is meant to turn us against ourselves.

I'm not playing that game.

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@JtC I could not agree more with that. In fact, I don't care what kind of push back I get when I submit a comment to (this time, Twitter) in response to the "raid" on the Donald's personal residence. What did I have to say? I had to point out the memory loss as to why we didn't do the same thing to Hillary Clinton's personal computer/server. The same rules don't apply? The hell...

Another thing... I shouldn't remind Nina Turner, who was so glad to see the FBI raid the orange one's residence that the inevitable is civil war, right.on.time...

I'm no Trump-a-dumper... but, I'm no fucking moron attending the R v D football game in the cheap section, either!

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Lookout's picture

“The better part of valor is discretion” is a well-known quote from William Shakespeare’s history play Henry IV Part
https://poemanalysis.com/shakespeare-quotes/the-better-part-of-valor-is-...

“Discretion Is The Better Part Of Valor” means that the best thing one can do is to show discernment in their courage. In the play, Falstaff decides to play dead rather than face up to the raging battle around him. He continues to act in regard to this quotation when he pretends to kill Hotspur (who is already dead) in order to win the praise of Prince Hal and his father, the king of England.

Grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.
Living one day at a time;
Enjoying one moment at a time;
Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace;
Taking this sinful world
as it is, not as I would have it...

I think it is about goals and achievements. Be brave when it makes a difference and timid when it does not. I've been thinking a lot about trying to help those who are not interested and self satisfied. It makes no sense. So speak out, but don't get frustrated when you're speaking to a brick wall. Just walk away on your own path. There are others willing to listen. The trick is to find them.
45 sec...
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LEEyijiTW-I]

Thanks for today's courageous OT!

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

@Lookout

Thanks, my friend.

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enhydra lutris's picture

it takes some major cojones to call that passel of wierdos "The Heartbreakers", false advertising mucho? Dang!

Thanks for the great morning music and the OT. Today 2022 is pretty much 61.369863 % over.

This is the dark day in 1891 that the US officially took over as ruler of Hawaii, from the so-called Hawaiin Republic created by a bunch of sleazy colonizer thugs who previously overthrew the legitimate government, so here's to Liliuokalani

Image from page 238 of "The paradise of the Pacific: the Hawaiian Islands [electronic resource]" (1900)

be well and have a good one

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That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --

@enhydra lutris
couldn't they have found some better backup musicians? Sheesh!

Hawaii was just another stepping stone in the Manifest Destiny stratagem of world domination. It takes a lot of courage to be the world's bully, donchyahnow.

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snoopydawg's picture

Maybe Spartacus wasn’t actually a male either.

I pretended that I was Joan of Arc once, but my family still called me a girl or maybe a tomboy. I can’t wait till we transition out of this woke crap that has no problem rewriting history without any evidence that changed it.

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Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.

enhydra lutris's picture

@snoopydawg

any text and immediately thought of THIS Joan

be well and have a good one

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That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --

@snoopydawg
I wonder what Shakespeare would have to say about that? One thing is for sure, he'd have a real problem with the evolving definition of words. Then again the wordmeister may have embraced it, so maybe not.

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enhydra lutris's picture

@JtC

all roles, including female. Iirc shakespeare was one of the first to allow women to play female roles on occasion

be well and have a good one

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That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --

TheOtherMaven's picture

@enhydra lutris

the Restoration (1660). Charles II would have seen women on the stage in France (which as usual was being a trend-setter), so he would not have found it strange at all. (He also got to ogle all the pretty girls and take some home with him, e.g. Nell Gwyn).

As for the general public, they had been without public theater for almost twenty years, so they weren't about to object to newfangled notions like actresses.

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There is no justice. There can be no peace.

enhydra lutris's picture

@snoopydawg

I pretended that I was Joan of Arc once, but my family still called me a girl or maybe a tomboy.

At least they didn't call you a whacko - I mean, the real Joan would have spent most of her life in therapy today.

be well and have a good one

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That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --

Benny's picture

Thanks Jtc for the Bloodrock song. I hadn't heard that album in 45 years, at least.

Most of the Dems lost their courage in the past three weeks by allowing President Manchin and VP Sienma take the reins and show them who was boss (not to mention Chuck Schumer's son-in-law got a cushy job as a lobbyist for Blackrock out of this deal).

Dems lack courage at times on the trail, except maybe Beto, who was actually just responding as a Texan would when clearly annoyed about being heckled - in this instance about gun violence at an elementary school.

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One equal temper of heroic hearts, Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will. To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.--Tennyson

snoopydawg's picture

Lmao!

For the cat lovers

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Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.

@snoopydawg

that takes courage!

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snoopydawg's picture

@QMS

I can’t tell if he’s wearing high heels? But love the way he ran after the men and loved how they kept running. Brilliant trick..

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Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.

@snoopydawg Damn! It feels good to be a cat lover...

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snoopydawg's picture

@MrMickeysMom

I like how they all surrounded the kitten and walked off together. I admit that I laughed when he rolled down the stairs.

Sadly Twitter has changed how many tweets I can see a day so I rarely get to see that guys work. Farcebook did the same and if I want to see more I have to add friends. I only use it to see how my family is doing.

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Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.

has diminished to soldiers, cops, firefighters, and first responders.
I see tremendous displays of courage of all 6 categories, every day, by people not in those glorified categories. My respect for the resisters, the people who refuse to say "aye" when that is expected of them, who cast a vote that goes against the conventional "wisdom", who act bravely to do the right thing. They are my heart.

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"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981