Author: CMGT

There are so many ways to make our world a better place. Here is the clip of proposed solutions to the environmental issues presented by our youth (10th to 12th grade) participants of the Courage Project led by Dr. Rohany Nayan.

Essay

What is Courage?

By Amira Shakir
2021-2022 The Courage Project Participant

When many people think of the word “courage”, they think of fearlessness. In actuality, it is the opposite. Courage can not exist without fear. According to Google’s definition, courage is “the ability to do something that frightens one”. A person must face and persevere through a hardship of some sort to have courage.

As all things are, the word itself and the experiences associated with it are generally subjective. An action thought of as simple for one person may be terrifying for another. Although they may be executing the same action or task, the level of difficulty varies between the individuals.

Considering this, everyone experiences courage in one way or another no matter how simple or startling the issue at hand is from someone else’s perspective. The world wouldn’t be what it is today without courage or the will to try. Many well-known leaders and celebrities would not have made an impact on the world if it weren’t for the courage to take the first step. This is something that each of us is able to obtain. But we first must be willing to try.

Any courageous act, no matter how small will slowly but surely make this world a better place. There are numerous issues with the environment and the world is dying. Unfortunately, many people are standing idle and ignoring the matter. Not to say that repairing the earth is an easy problem to overcome. It takes a great deal of courage to stand apart from everyone else and make a difference.

We as a human race should all come together and find the courage to restore the earth. There will be times where we feel hopeless when we don’t see the change or results that we want. Despite this, we must muster courage and persevere.

The opposite of courage is cowardice: “lack of courage in the face of danger, difficulty, opposition, pain, etc”. If we are frightened of the issues in the world and abandon them completely, things will only get worse.

Imagine where the world’s most influential people would be if they were too scared to speak up. There will always be hardships and scary obstacles that we all must face as human beings. We must muster the courage to surmount this and excel. As Marl Manson states, “Bravery is not the absence of fear. Bravery is feeling the fear, the doubt, the insecurity, and deciding that something else is more important”.

“He is the One Who smoothed out the earth for you, so move about in its regions and eat from His provisions. And to Him is the resurrection ˹of all˺.”

Al-Quran, 67:15

“Say, ˹O Prophet,˺ “He is the One Who brought you into being and gave you hearing, sight, and intellect. ˹Yet˺ you hardly give any thanks.”

Al-Quran, 67:23

We are very blessed with many things. The earth itself is a gift to us and we should take care of it. Unfortunately, many of us do not use our ears, eyes, hearts and minds to help take care of it. We should muster the courage to help other people aware of the environmental crisis.

By the will of Allah, the earth has given us everything and asks for vey little in return, yet we abuse it. We can express thankfulness by doing our part to help the world.

Also read a Poem on Courage by Nusayba Abdullah, “Nothing Good Comes Easy“.