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Definition Essay On Courage

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How do we see courage? To most, a picture of a young, caped, man would come to mind. Plummeting from the shadows of a tall building, he would save a frightened city from a catastrophic ending. Although I am quite sure that this fictional man has a tremendous amount of courage—risking his life for the sake of humanity and all—the term courage can be expanded into a far more in depth definition. According to Merriam Webster dictionary the word courage can simply be defined as the “mental or moral strength to venture, persevere, and withstand danger, fear, or difficulty.” This definition can show that courage is something that is in one's head and heart. Sadly, today’s society tends to create an exaggerated image of what makes one a courageous person. In our society today, there seems to be a heavy conflation of the term courage and the term fearlessness, although they can quite possibly be the exact opposite. Being one to rush into decisions, a fearless person tends to overlook the consequences that could result in their hasty actions. However, a courageous person usually is scared. But once they are able to move past their fear, that is when they can become courageous. Maybe all courage is is being scared to do something, but overcoming it …show more content…

However, courage has been shown in everyday life a very long time. A women’s rights advocate, Clara Barton is an excellent example of everyday people doing acts of a tremendous amount of courage. Born in 1821, in North Oxford, Massachusetts, Clara was an extremely shy child and had extreme trouble talking to people. At the age of 10 her younger brother fell out of a barn and suffered from a very serious injury. Being only a young girl she cared for her brother and nursed him back to health after a number doctors had already given up on him. During that time she learned how to give medication and other

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