Many today speculate that we are living in the end times or close to it, and things are worse than ever before. Right-wing podcasters and YouTubers never seem to run out of negativity on which to report, resulting in a base growing hopeless or radicalized.
Their content is supposedly consumed in order for we the people to stay current and hold informed opinions. But what if most of the news is just sensationalism? What if, instead of guiding people to live well in a broken world, it’s doing the opposite?
Often, the constant flux of information and fearmongering makes one less active, less brave, and less independent. Yet courage dams the flow, helping us reclaim our power as individuals and enabling us to better respond to adversities.
The Heart of Courage
Overcoming fear is often synonymous with courage. Boldness. Battle. Bravery to slay the dragon, fearlessness to enter the haunted basement to save your friend.
But what about situations that aren’t a one-and-done deal like dragon-slaying? For the ancients and the medievals, slow endurance was at the heart of courage.
Far from some passive, zen tolerance, endurance is an active resolve. It’s the soul’s unwavering persistence to stand amid danger and difficulty without attacking. The mother of patience – endurance – involves suffering well, steadily resisting evil, and firmly pursuing the good.
Courage requires knowing when, how, and for what end. The girl who walks into the scary basement calling, “Hello?” isn’t brave, she’s stupid. Being rash is no more courageous than telling someone’s secret, unprompted, is honesty. Evil exists and we all face it at different points. But staying up to date on every tragedy, corruption, and shady situation isn’t brave confrontation. It’s putting ourselves amid evil unnecessarily.
Whether it’s politics or TikTok dances, many go online as a distraction from the anxiety and uncertainty of life. Facing these issues in real life is too much of a risk, as it demands change, so we turn off the worry by turning on the phone.
“Fortitude keeps man from loving his life in such a way that he loses it,” philosopher Josef Pieper wrote. Courage helps us confront the discomfort of interior quiet. Rather than wasting away our lives watching another video on another corrupt leader, courage can give us the strength to endure daily difficulties and discover the joy of life that comes when we let go of the need for certainty.
A Steady Hope
Courage first and foremost must acknowledge and believe in a good. There is no courage without it. The truly brave person maintains hope, because otherwise, why pursue a good you can’t achieve?
The truly brave person is also afraid. Without vulnerability, and the fear of hurt that comes with it, there’s no risk, and thus no courage, in enduring evil.
Courage is not easy, but it’s impossible when we remove the good that’s worth pursuing. We currently see this among many popular voices on the right. They accuse anyone they disagree with of being bought and paid for, urging us to hasten the inevitable collapse whether by voting for liberals or not voting at all. They’ve given up on America and don’t see any good for which to fight.
I can understand the logic behind this approach, and even empathize with the disappointment fueling it. But this attitude is just another sad effect of nihilism, and nihilism, for all its bravado and angst, is just another guise for cowardice.
The cynics who bluster about, seemingly fearless and waiting for the revolution, for real change, for a fight – these are not courageous people. Nor are those who claim our country is a failed experiment needing to be scraped and begun again. In both, sight of the good is lost. The pain and danger is not unjustified, but the good (our country) they are willing to sacrifice is far greater than the evils they seek to avoid.
The loss of faith in our institutions and leaders is understandable, but it’s created a void. This is a great opportunity for us to reinvigorate our faith and our communities. Instead, I fear the void will just be filled by faith in podcasters and whatever extremist influencer campaigns on a complete, authoritarian makeover.
Our country and our lives are worth fighting for, and usually that fight isn’t on a battlefield, at a rally, or in online comment sections. That fight is in our daily choices, our mindsets, and in our grasp on the goodness of reality.
Evil dons different masks, but there’s nothing new under the sun. Abortion, Epstein’s island, and dishonest, debauched leaders are tales as old as time. Money still buys innocence and control.
Yet even older than evil is goodness, and as Samwise Gamgee says in “The Lord of the Rings,” “There’s still some good left in the world, Mr. Frodo, and it’s worth fighting for.”
Anna Barren holds a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy from Christendom College and has been published in The Epoch Times, The Federalist, and the Smoky Mountain News.
This culture article was made possible by The Fred & Rheta Skelton Center for Cultural Renewal, a project of 1819 News. To comment on this article, please email [email protected]. The views and opinions expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the policy or position of 1819 News.
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