The Virtue Of Courage

One of my favorite cartoons of my father, always admired and inherently teased for his vast and varied knowledge.

I was responding to a comment from the very talented blogger Fausta on one of my previous threads "The Nation of Islam Will Sit At The Throne Of The World...", regarding the whole issue of the American media cowardice in abstaining from publicizing the Muhammad cartoons, and it made me think of my father.

My father used to say that you can never blame others for their cowardice. Everyone has different considerations and aspects to worry about. Some worry about their jobs, some their very lives, some the sponsors that keep them funded. One can only look to oneself and stand upright for what you believe in.

My father was betrayed many times by close friends, in a totalitarian regime, but he always forgave them. He said that they had considerations of their livelihood, which he did not have to worry about. They had considerations for their very lives, which my father had given to the cause of freedom long ago. They had considerations for their families' wellbeing, which my father did not have (when he married my mother he made his position clear, and she understood that, when I came along I simply was not asked. Heh.)

He forgave them, not because they know not what they do, but because he understood the human weaknesses and survival instincts which my father gave up for the cause of freedom.

And again, he always said to me "Look to yourself, not to others. Don't ever rely on others to fight for YOUR freedom. They never will. They will always fight for their own version of it, which is relevant to their own little world. Very few people in history have truly fought for the good of mankind."

My great friend Kenny Pierce who was touched by my comment

C. S. Lewis once said that the virtue of courage is a prerequisite for the practice of all other virtues, because otherwise one is virtuous only when virtue has no cost. There are times when something needs to be done, and yet we know that if we step up and do this needful thing, we will pay a heavy personal price. Courage is the virtue that makes us willing to pay that price; cowardice makes us say, “The price is too high; I will not pay it.”

But courage isn’t the only virtue. Prudence is a virtue as well. Sometimes the price really is too high. When we applaud somebody’s behavior as courageous, we implicitly affirm his prudence; we say that the cost was not disproportionate to the needfulness. When we accuse somebody of cowardice, we also, I think, are implying not just that he should have paid the price, but that he knew that he ought to. For if he sincerely believed that the cost outweighed the usefulness, then our true complaint is with his judgment, not his courage.
[...]
It is always hard, when we ourselves are willing to make sacrifices for what is right, to see others who don’t take their place beside us because they are not willing to match our courage. The greater the sacrifice we ourselves have made, the harder it is not to feel that we have earned the right to demand sacrifices of others, for our cause – that they owe it to us to pay the price we ourselves have been willing to pay. But Borislav Pekic saw too deeply and clearly into the human heart, to be taken in by that temptation. On the Cross, Jesus famously forgave His tormentors, “for they know not what they do. Pekic forgave those who failed him for a different reason: he forgave them because he knew, all too well, that, “I know not what I ask them to do.”

Comments

[Fausta]

Beautiful post, Alexandra.

It's an honor to have been mentioned in it.

It's a privilege to be able to visit and read your blog.

[Darrell]

The acorn didn't fall far from the tree!

Your memories and your stories will keep him alive forever. I picture a very proud man...

[sigmund, carl and alfred]

Nuanced and sublime.

Few words, much depth.

[Alexandra]

Trini,

I am truly sorry about your friend, we shall indeed all pray for him and his family.
I have never understood why the brilliant and good so often die young.

[RL]

ciao Alexandra, written like a true daddy's girl
(and this is a truly wonderful-thing !).

Your dad reminds me alot of Amir Abbas Hoveyda.
His incredible courage, honesty, and integrity
caused him to be brutally and personally executed
by the evil-islamoterrorist monster named
ayatollah "cat-strangler" khalkhali.
but this isn't how history will remember Hoveyda.

"All that is required for the triumph of evil
is for good men to do nothing."
Edmund Burke

"The best lack all conviction, while the worst
are full of passionate intensity."
W.B. Yeats

i would appreciate it very much if everybody
who reads this prays for my brilliant childhood
friend's mom Parvaneh(Butterfly) and for his son
Nicolai. my friend's body lost his incredibly
courageous battle against brain cancer at 2:45 am
this morning. he was considered one of the best
and brightest minds in Silicon Valley, and he
will be sorely missed by all who knew him and
loved him.

Please don't ever forget to communicate your
love and appreciation for the people whom you love
as often as possible, because none of us are
guaranteed tomorrow.

Thank you and God bless all of you.

[nasty90]

Alexandra, it sounds like your father was a man of great understanding.

[Paul of York]

I alone am responsible for what I do and so I agree with you and with your father. I worry only that I can recognize the situation. What was so clear to him.
Whether I look behind me and no one is there, or I look in front and turn away, I only hope to do what is right. Some things are crystal clear, others cloudy.
Freedom is clear and yet there are people trying to cloud it's meaning, it's worth, it's relative value to something. That makes me mad. But other things, I can understand what he said, survival is often seen as doing what is right.

[a4g]

Wonderful, Alexandra.

Fortunately for the forgiving, courage is contagious.

[Liquid]

What a lovely tribute to your Dad. I feel like I know part of him now! It was just lovely Alexandra...it made me cry. Even now, through his words we are all reminded to keep on forgiving. When I read this, I could feel his spirit shininig through your own words and yet, I could also feel the presence of a little girl, peering from around the corner 'watching and seeing' as she took all the memories inside.
Thank you for sharing this with all of us today!
*leans over and gives you a hug*