COURAGE
IF there is one thing more than another that a man most aspires to be esteemed for it is his courage.
If there is one thing more than another that a woman most admires in a man it is his courage.
If in a woman there is one thing more valued than another, it is that quiet courage which goes by many names-endurance, patience, loyalty, consistency with truth, willingness to face whatever lies before her.
Nor is there much to choose between man's courage and the courage of woman. If man has the courage of physical action, woman has the greater courage of privation; and on the other hand, if man has less courage to submit to being thwarted, when woman is defeated, and has to rise again, her courage tends to fail her utterly.
Both have their strong points, both their limitations; but in both alike the greatest courage of all is to fight up against their weakest nature.
It will not be denied by many that bravery in ordinary life means the power to face and to go through hard things; cowardice in practice means the shirking of a duty.
It does not matter much what excuses we may make, to what subterfuges we may resort, how successfully we may deceive ourselves or others....
[continued tomorrow]
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From The School of Love and Other Essays
by The Most Reverend Alban Goodier, S.J.
Burns, Oates, & Washburn, Ltd. 1918
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