There's a tiny yet cunning pinch of deep irony in the consequences of coerced and thus still cowardice acts of bravery. For bravery is a virtue and thus a rather desirable mode of existence for many. So even if we are not very brave, we might still want to be... and thus also attempt to become. And how do we do this? By forcing ourselves into performing the ‘brave’ deeds, of course! So in order to gain social recognition and to improve our self-esteem we go against who we are, moulding ourselves as if we were but clay. We do the impossible.
But then, there seems to be a tiny little thing missing. How are we to perform miracles if we don't believe in the power of our own magic? And even if we should manage to 'perform' the miracle, how are we then to deal with the new worlds that this act opens before us? Are we ready to face the terrifying terra incognita – for bravery is not about the moments but about the sustainable attitudes? Or are we going for head-in-the-sand strategy?
Each act of bravery, each performed miracle, raises the bar of our being-in-the-world, demanding from us to carry on with at least the same level of bravery... and a pocket always full of magic. It just doesn't make sense to act brave one second and then retire the other... once you claim bravery your newly gained status demands that you must stand your ground. All this means that many of our acts of bravery might be more about our continuous work on our identities than they ever are about the social and cultural consequences of its enactment... a kind of self-esteem boost, that is. This means that some martyrs may offer their lives just to get the reward from the gods in return. Not as a rational homo economicus quest for profit nor as simple reciprocity but more as a desperate way of repairing the damaged sense of the self. Well-being of others, in this case, appears as just a chimera – a part of the game that has the potency to grant the performer with high status amongst the mortals. Does this mean that some heroes die just to reach immortality (either by the grace of gods or by mundane celebration of their heroism), rather than to generate the altruistic good for other people?
In any case, it is inherent in the very nature of notion of bravery that it requires to be genuinely heartfelt in order for its enactment to fulfil the sociocultural criteria of what deserves to be called 'bravery'. Therefore, only as such can it generate proper outcomes, i.e. to cause reactions worthy of being associated to acts of bravery. But what if it is performed without being heartfelt but more as a way of meeting the very same criteria, to cowardly claim status and prestige that only true bravery can bring. Well, everything takes place as if there are two possible outcomes:
1. Such an attempt to act brave might fail – since it is not heartfelt it is also bound to be poorly executed and instead of providing the ‘performer' with desired status and prestige it just manages to confine him or her in the cage of total humility.
2. Such an attempt to act brave might succeed – the success might come by accidence of no one noticing that the act was not really heartfelt and genuine.
The latter scenario, however, is still not to be confused with ultimate success since the 'peformer' is by the sheer enactment of the miracle now forced to continuously provide a steady stream of new miracles in order to legitimize his or her new status. He or she is expected to live the life of the brave. Now, if you just aren't this brave, such life can easily transform into a never-ending torment of living up to an impossible ideal.
So, by all means, test your limits, take a leap, conquer and tame your deepest fears, dear Icarus – that's just fine... However, when you do, make sure you prepare yourself for the open-endedness of this battle 'coz it is not bound to end. The sun will not get any colder just because you dare to charge at it armed with the wings of wax. Ambitions can turn into hubris that might be just too hard to handle. And after all, don't forget that the fastest guns were more challenged than they were ever feared.
Jest al' "A life spent making mistakes is not only more honorable, but more useful than a life spent doing nothing." - George Bernard Shaw
ReplyDeletehehehehe - I agree with you and with Mr Shaw.
ReplyDeleteJust keep in mind that the price of that kind of 'honour' and pragmatism might be really bad chronic sore heels... 'coz being so honourable means standing up tall and walking long, long... veryyyy long stretches across the honourlands :))
So, 'comfortable shoes' might be a goood idea.
Although, there is one thing that seems to have ended up in a blind spot here. It is not the unfortunate mistakes I was aiming at with my reflection but rather the deliberate act of performing bravery that is not heartfelt - in other words, I am talking about 'pretending' to act bravely just because it is something you are, by your sociocultural surrounding, expected to do. This means 'cheating', since you aim for personal recognition and not for acting in accordance with what you think is the 'right thing to do' in given moment irrespective of how scarry it might be. The difference is that you might overcome your fears for the sake of your moral convictions or you might ignore them and endure their torment for the sake of gaining recognition aand prestige. Now that can also be classified as mistake - but it is not representative of 'making mistakes' in general since it has to strong elements of deliberatness and personal greed.
In either case the courage that is demonstrated in a given moment requires for its performer to be able to act the same way, should the situation call again. Otherwise he or she is proven to be fraud and risk sufferring the consequences of social sanctions. That is why I think that 'real' bravery is about relatively sustainable attitudes and comfortable shoes. :)))
This morning, on a bus, I got to thinking...
ReplyDelete... I have claimed that "... bravery is not about the moments but about the sustainable attitudes". It should perhaps be made clear that this doesn't imply that ocasional courageous acts should not be regarded as bravery at all. Indeed, that is what they are. This way, a coward can act bravely. But this is not sufficient to regard a coward to be a brave man/woman just because he/she occasionaly had managed to overpower his/her fears. To act brave is necessary yet not sufficient for anyone to deserve the recognition of being brave. Acquiring this attribute requires repeatedly demonstrated acts of bravery so that they together form a solid body of courageous acts. Perhaps following example should bring some clarity:
A young man gets into a pub-fight with a fiercest gang in town in order to defend himself. He manages to fight his way through the fear of being outnumbered and, although bruised, he stands his ground with his honour still in tact. However, to determine their authority, the gang continues with regular provocations, humiliations and physical attacks, each time the young man enters the pub. Since this is the only place in town besides the church where you can go out and meet people, a young man finds himself faced with a small number of options:
1. He can continue to stand his ground and endure the humiliations and physical abuse until the gang gets tired and he eventually gets recognized as a brave man who had the courage to stand up against the fiercest gang in town.
2. He can avoid going to the pub.
3. He can move from the town.
Now, the first option seems no doubt most admirable, heroic and culturally celebrated as analogous to bravery. The other two lean perhaps more towards yielding and submission - the collapse under the pressure of discomfort and fear (although a readily used euphemism would probably be to consider it to be a "smart" choice which, of course, is also probably true but not necessarily brave). Enduring the given conditions and sticking with the first options require a strong will, determination and sustainable ability to confront fear. The single brave acts get put to the test so as to examine whether they are performed by a brave man or not. That's why I claim that "... bravery is not about the moments but about the sustainable attitudes".