Skin in the Game: “Courage is the only virtue you cannot fake.”
I think courage is the most beautiful and precious quality I have. It sounds very narcissistic to say that, but it’s fine! I really do think so. And courage is also one of the qualities I value most in other people.
And I’ve actually thought pretty seriously about why. Kindness, intelligence, honesty, loyalty, blah blah blah—all of these are good. But courage has always felt a little different to me. Because courage is very hard to establish through words alone. At some point, it has to cost you something real.
And let’s be honest, it’s not that hard to simply be a good person. How many actual villains do you even meet in real life? Most people around us are just nice. Not necessarily because they wake up every morning and actively choose goodness, but because most of the time, being nice doesn’t cost that much.
The problem is that virtues are hard to judge when they’re free. Someone might be kind because kindness feels good. Someone might be honest because lying is annoying. Someone might defend the right opinion because everyone around them already agrees.
None of that makes it fake. I just become much more interested when something starts to cost you. That’s what I like about courage. There is always something on the table. Your dignity. Your safety. A relationship. A future you could have kept. You can shut up, walk away, wait another year, or very intelligently explain to yourself why now is not the right time.
I especially love courage in smart people. Smart people can see disasters coming from ten miles away. They can calculate every possible loss, live through the breakup before the first kiss, and write a beautiful little paper explaining why their fear is actually wisdom.(The worst part is, the paper might be completely correct.)
Of course, suffering itself is not noble. People ruin their lives over stupid things all the time. If someone destroys herself over some shitty man, I’m not going to stand there crying and whisper, What a brave woman!
Morning comes. The old man gets up and goes back to sea.
The sea can still take the fish. He knew that before he left home.
He still wants to fish.