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Message: <blockquote data-quote="The Sigil" data-source="post: 277842" data-attributes="member: 2013">Re: Re: (OT) Monte Cook's most recent rant.....I have to disagree with you on that one... but then, it comes in how I define cowardice.Cowardice is the opposite of courage.Courage is the quality that makes a man do - or omit - that which he does not wish to do (or omit) ... because he knows the consequences of the course of action he would prefer to do are much less desirable than the consequences of the course of action he does not prefer to do.You can be scared and still have courage.  A man stranded in the wilderness and struggling to survive is not courageous - he is a survivor.  A man overcoming cancer is not courageous - he is a survivor.  The man who leaps in front of a car to scoop up a child IS courageous - because odds are good that his preferred course of action is not to put himself in front of a speeding car.On the other hand, you can commit an act that most of us would be afraid to do and NOT have courage (you could have stupidity, for instance).I can't get inside the mind of a suicide pilot, but I'm guessing that they WANTED to be suicide pilots.  To them, suicide was the preferred course of action.  Therefore, committing suicide was NOT courageous.Contrast this with the passengers in Flight 91 (IIRC).  I am guessing that suicide (attacking the hijackers and possibly crashing the plane) was NOT their preferred course of action.  OTOH, they realized that the consequences of inaction would be worse (not necessarily to themselves, but to others).  This makes them courageous.Perhaps that is not as eloquent as I would have liked, but there it is.  Courage is not "doing something most people wouldn't want to do."  Courage is "choosing to do something you yourself don't want to do."  And I don't mean you're wishy-washy about not wanting to do it - that's indifference, not "not wanting to" - I mean you're scared stiff about doing it.Applicable here is the quote, "The courageous soldier does not fight out of a hatred for what lies before him, but out of a love for what lies behind him." (or something to that effect)This makes cowardice, by definition, "choosing only to do those things that you prefer to do."  Some may argue that such a definition ought to belong to "rugged individualist."  But when you never think to do something that would take you out of your comfort zone, especially if you know what you are about to do is wrong, that makes you a coward.  Succumbing to peer pressure is cowardly.  You may be uncomfortable doing something, but you would feel more uncomfortable NOT doing it in this case.  Cowardice.Above all, courage means being responsible.  True courage is measured not in what you do, but in your willingness to face the consequences.  IMO the hijackers were cowards - they were willing to attack defenseless innocents, but not willing to confront armed men.  They were willing to die so they would not have to be punished by men, believing that though men might punish them, God (or Allah or <insert name here>) would reward them.  That, in my book, is cowardice.Think on that one good and hard.  It best describes my view of courage.  The Bridge at Andau (James Michener) is another good read.--The Sigil</blockquote>

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