the bread of man's soul

   Standing up to 50 men on the field of battle, facing almost certain death. Drenched in sweat, their skin radiates under the hot sun. Their face, stone hard and strong. There is not a trace of fear as they plunge towards the enemy, swords potruding from their sides, ready to fight no matter the consequence- live or die.
   A portrayal of true heroism, so it would seem. Courage- a dream so unobtainable, so glorious by definition, that the average human does not dare try to find it. And yet the world craves it, the bread of man's soul. Tradition and repetition instill into our minds this image of what a hero looks like, what a hero acts like, what a hero talks like. But if one would tear past their archaic ignorance and strip their heart of human weakness and doubt, they would find that a hero is simply someone who has courage. And the people who have courage are the people who see the hope in humanity, the people who persistantly defy the laws of society, the people who act instead of do, who fight instead of watch. The courage of a true hero is their ability to overcome fear in order to maintain persistant ethical, psychological, and moral understanding that exceeds weakness and makes them stand out in a way that dramitically alters the course of human history.
   There have been many people in history, many heroes, who have been able to break the mold of society and transcend mediocrity because they simply acted on their fear. Einstein, Emmerson, Galileo, Joan of Arc, Da Vinci, Socrates- Faces familiar to the world, faces remembered. But why were they remembered? The answer lies in the individual expression of their courage. They were able to do what 99% of humanity cannot. They were able to change the world. Let's take Ralph Waldo Emmerson for example. His ability to see things that others couldn't, pushed him past his fear of societal alienation into a psychological change within himself to deal with that fear. He acted on that change instead of letting his fear pollute his perception of potential. Thus thrusting him to exceed carnal mentality and establish his revolutionary ideas on transcendentalism during the 19th century. In one of his addresses, Emmerson refers to Voltaire's famous words, "'Tis the misfortune of worthy people that they are cowards". He stresses the importance of personal integrity and strength to overcome doubt and achieve a level of consciousness that transcends the empirical. There are many people who could have made history but didn't simply because they were afraid of being rejected by the world, because they were blind to the most basic form of self awareness, because they didn't have the courage to fight their fear.
   Lastly, Ralph Waldo Emmerson also portrays ideas on courage in his lecture, The Conduct of Life: Behavior, through his use of rhetorical strategies and literary techniques that portray his ideas on societal behavior patterns. He realized that "in all the superior people [he] has met, [he] noticed directness, truth spoken more truly, as if everything of obstruction, of malformation has been trained away" and that there is "always a quick intellegence" in which they "recognize at sight and meet on a better ground than the talents they may pocess"(Emmerson 1049). Emerson's words clearly define what courage means today- something that creates an intellegence that enables one to see past temporary pleasure and worldly satisfaction and uphold honesty and ethical consistancy. In his code of behavior, he shows that humans are subjective to their rhelm of experience and if they cannot experience change within themselves then they don't have the courage to change the world around them.
   In Conclusion, courage is not the absence of fear, but merely the strength to overcome fear. It is the motivating force behind every uplifting action, every smile, every word of kindness, every change of heart. It is who we are and realizing who we could become. It is standing strong through adversity no matter whether one's actions are acceptable to society. It's being confident enough in oneself to be able to recognize patterns in the world around them, to see more than just events and know how to change them. Courage is faith, the hope that the world so desperately needs,
the faith to change the world.