Mark Edmundson Courage

Courage is the fire on one’s soul that gives you the will to live everyday. Courage is the ability to do difficult and scary things in spite of fear. According to www.Dictionary.com the quality of mind or spirit that enables a person to face difficulty, danger, pain, etc., without fear; bravery. What I think courage is that you do thing that scares you or that is something difficult to do.

The mass media has many influences on how society perceives certain things. The media can be seen to shape people’s opinion of themselves, enforce gender stereotypes, and in some ways the media also decides what we should value. The average American household has more TVs in the house than people, there’s about 2.73 television sets and 2.55 people per household, and at least one TV is on eight hours a day (Goodall, p. 160). This explains why we are so influenced by what we see and hear in the media, when we surround ourselves with media we can’t help but to be influenced by it. The way that the media influences people isn’t always bad, sometimes the media’s influences are good, for example news broadcasts.

In chapter two of Alain de Botton’s book “Status Anxiety,” he explains the increase of status anxiety in western civilizations. By using a reference group, people are able to scrutinize their success and this often leads to envy. Every person is capable of making their own choices, composing a more urgent need to achieve in life. The increase of media usage and people’s intensifying obsession with celebrities have altered the way modern societies measure wealth. Infinite life choices allow people to constantly compare themselves to their peers and media to determine wealth and success.

Courage, it’s a very important skill everyone has, yet not everyone uses. It’s a powerful force and an important weapon that everyone should have in their toolbox of knowledge, courage helps people overcome the difficult for something they think is right or wrong. It’s one of many skills all people should have and some, such as Atticus Finch show and use it more than others. In the story, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, the main character Atticus Finch demonstrates his courage by defending a an innocent black man in a rape trail. In which Finch already knows that he has lost at due to the times, but he is bent on leaving a long lasting mark even if he does rule.

In his article, “Equality, Expectation, and Envy,” Alain de Botton rests on the idea that due to status envy, people cannot be truly happy with their current standings because they are always putting themselves into comparisons with those who surround them. Throughout time, people seem to feel as though “neither who they are nor what they have is quite enough” (25), and due to these situations, people are always in search of becoming better, or succeeding above those whom they consider themselves in relation to. Botton bases his arguments through means of philosophy, historical documents, psychological evidence, various writers, etc., all through recurring times in the past where similar instances have occurred. Botton makes the case that

Courage Courage is the quality of mind or spirit that enables a person to face difficulty, danger, and pain without fear, according to a dictionary definition. Everyday many people try to have courage and everyday most of these people don’t. Having courage can be very difficult.

Henry’s display of courage in chapter 17 is in my opinion seen as reckless. Running towards a furry like object seen as courage? The definition according to dictionary.com is- the quality of mind or spirit that enables a person to face difficulty, danger, pain, etc., without fear; bravery. But courage has many different means to many different people. Courage in my opinion is standing up for what you believe in and complete the task.

Courage is a virtue, always desired, but not often achieved. Humans are born to be courageous, whether it is due to their upbringing, or the choices they make. Often, the human brain can be indecisive; being courageous dissolves into being fearful or having a sudden urge to want something irrational, as is the case in the novel, Delirium, written by Lauren Oliver considering revising for run on sentence. Lena is a less than average girl who struggles in a world which is controlled by power and fear. The cold electric fence that lines the outer edges of Portland keeps the population contained in the “ideal” world that the government desires to rule.

In American society today, there’s debates centered around how to be happy and to stay happy. There is generally lots of ways to stay happy and make you happy but sometimes those objects that make you happy are temporary happiness. As the prominent philosopher John Mill is that people shouldn’t be so focused on being happy, that shouldn't be your main purpose in life. Mill’s argument about happiness is correct in that we shouldn’t be focused on making others happy or the world a better place, try to be more focused on our own happiness.

I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand. It’s when you know you’re licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see through it no matter what.”