Courage

By Andrew, FPP Intern

“Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen.” – Winston Churchill

Despite how it is sometimes used, the word courage does not refer to the absence of fear. Instead, it means strength in spite of fear. In 1775 the American Colonists began fighting for their independence from Great Britain, who had access to vast resources and a formidable army. While the odds were against them, the Colonists had the courage to stand up and fight for truth and rights they believed were Divinely given to men. They were putting their lives on the line—that takes courage.

In 1787, four years after the America’s War for Independence was over, a delegation of 55 men from various states began the process of creating a Constitution to form an adequate Federal Government. It is safe to assume that all 55 of these men had ideas on what they wanted before they started. In fact, disagreements caused tensions to run so high, that the Convention almost broke up. Benjamin Franklin stepped in and rallied the delegates back together by imploring to God for direction and help. It was at this point, that they started to compromise and move forward. The delegates all had their own ideas and desires for what this new constitution should look like, but they had the courage to put their own desires aside in order to create the government that was best for the country as a whole.

Winston Churchill was right when he said that it takes just as much courage to sit down and listen as it does to stand up and speak. The men who founded America had an incredible amount of courage to found a nation completely separate from their homeland, with no guarantee of success. Courage has played a major role throughout our nation’s history, and is a principle that we are still firmly founded on even today.