Standing up for ones principles takes moral and ethical courage. That is the most appropriate definition. Courage is finding strength (even though it might be forced and not always done from within) to face danger, difficulty, uncertainty, or pain without being overcome by fear.
Fear stops many people from making ethically responsible choices; the thought of fighting many obstacles to overcome them can be a tedious and frustrating course to follow.
A stranger courageously runs into a street to help rescue a child from being hit by a car because he or she is protecting life. Sure, the stranger could do this action with the hope that he might be rewarded well for his deed. He could also find his courage due to his duty to his community. However, this stranger’s courageous instinct kicks in; his ethical and moral principles respond and he reacts to them.
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Naturally (hopefully), most ethical dilemmas aren’t a matter of life and death, but because they are not always such, it is easy for one to rationalize by thinking that it is too much of a hassle to work out the problem. In short, it is better to forget it than dwell on it and make such a big deal.
A mother takes her daughter shopping, and the daughter slips a stick of chewing gum into her pocket. The mother has seen what just took place, but she does not say anything, feeling that telling the manager would take up too much of her time, and telling her to place it back would be to petty. It is just a stick of gum anyway- hopefully she won’t do it again.
Human nature proves that if nothing is said or done about bad behavior it will continue and eventually worsen. Allowing things to be conveniently forgotten will eventually make it harder to stand up to. Just being mad when wrongdoing has occurred is not enough. Courage is actually confronting those inside emotions and doing something about it (besides doing nothing). One should have some solid sense of moral justice when dealing with unethical behavior, so it becomes internally bothersome when one is subject to it.
Obviously, one doesn’t sit and contemplate how to be of good courage every breathing moment. What human history has shown is that all people have made some type of mistake. However, one thing that is always imperative to realize is that a person can learn from his mistake. To realize that the principle of standing up to protect someone’s rights and ideas is a noble cause might not give you an earthly and monetary gain, but it will give one a self of completement and contentment (if of course, the reason that one has “stood up” in the first place was not for monetary gain!). Courage is really not about money, but rather setting aside one’s fear and taking action for the good of oneself or someone else.
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