Have courage to conquer yourself
By Taru Bahl

A book by a Field Marshal lists Alexander, Caesar, Napoleon, Frederick the Great, Hannibal and Gustavas Adolphus as the six leading captains of war which the world has produced in the last 3,000 years. But it is Julius Caesar who he places right on top of the pile because he combined the virtues of both physical and moral courage in equal measure. Moral courage is not something which belongs to a particular cause, era or individual. It has relevance for each one of us. If in times of war there were military heroes there were prophets, gurus and messiahs in the religious age. What was common to both was the moral courage which dictated their every action. Today’s leadership crisis is thanks to the increasing moral turpitude which is rampant at all levels, where along with corruption and inefficiency there is disillusionment and fragmentation of the very value system which binds people together with love and harmony.

Moral courage is not a trait propounded by martyrs and do gooders alone. The father who refuses to accept bribe, preferring to live a nondescript life; the mother who slogs day and night, enduring the sarcastic taunts of her fellow workers; the son who settles for a lesser job instead of resorting to dishonesty; the daughter who suffers an irresponsible and wayward husband till he turns over a new leaf may all be cliched roles from our commercial Hindi cinema but if you look closely, each of them has a common thread running through – that of moral courage. Examples can be found in every household. The recent stress on developing an individual’s emotional intelligence too relies heavily on moral courage

Moral courage then is not required only in times of danger and crisis. One needs an abundance of it when it comes to telling the truth or to accept blame when one goes wrong. The courageous person accepts responsibility for his behaviour and actions and insulates himself from excuses. When moral courage is in short supply, anxiety, panic and the fear of losing pushes us to make compromises. In those weak moments we may take decisions which create moral and ethical ambivalence. This is not to say that we sink into an irrecoverable abyss. It is true that a morally courageous person would have the ability to resist temptation. He would fight, struggle and even suffer, but not compromise on his ideals. In case he does, he would pull himself out of the quagmire and get his life back on rail. More than society’s acceptance, appreciation and blessing he seeks approval in his own eyes. His moral courage is what keeps him focused, true to himself and to all that he believes in.

When provoked the easiest thing is to react, argue and get even. In the process this may bring out the worst in us, but rarely do we pause and think of the consequences. A person with moral courage can muster the strength to remain still and calm in times of crisis. This allows his mind to explore options, to minutely observe the person across and to accordingly plan his next move. Which is why people with moral courage are not preoccupied with winning fame, power and money alone. For them it is the voice of their conscience which matters. The means are as important as the end. It is said that while conquering others requires force, conquering oneself requires strength. There is an ancient Chinese story about Han Xin, a young and skilled Kung Fu fighter. One day while walking through the streets he gets waylaid by two men who challenge him to a fight - unto - death. He politely declines but they refuse to let him walk past. They insist that he either fight or crawl like a dog through their outspread legs. This is an unspeakable humiliation for the Chinese. Xin chose to crawl rather than fight. People openly laughed and sniggered at him. Why he chose to suffer public ridicule when he could so easily have emerged victorious is because the pair of unschooled ruffians posed no threat to him. They were unworthy adversaries. He knew he was a fearless warrior who didn’t want to leave two foolish dead men as proof of his valour and skill. A person who is only physically courageous may rush into combat to prove his superiority. But a person who is morally courageous stays away from using unnecessary force. He knows that force leads to conflict and creates a hostile climate which is neither open nor nourishing.

Creating the unity necessary to run an effective business, family or marriage requires great personal strength and courage. No amount of technical and administrative skill can make up for lack of nobility of personal character in developing relationships. It involves mutual learning, mutual influence and mutual benefits. It also requires great courage and consideration to create these mutual benefits. High courage and consideration are therefore both essential to be in a win win situation. You have to be in a position to listen empathetically, understand and courageously confront.

Jesus Christ, Martin Luther King, Abraham Lincoln and Mahatma Gandhi were the epitome of morally courageous people who inspired and succeeded in forcing even adversaries and staunch enemies to take them seriously. Gandhi’s non-violence movement was a strategy to fight injustice, oppression and dominance. For a puny little man to stand up and face the wrath and brute force of the British was itself an act of courage. But to be able to fight on behalf of his countrymen and to mobilise the masses towards a common cause without using weapons and arsenal was possible only on the strength of his moral courage. Corrie ten Boom in Holland courageously defied the Nazis as she took in scores of Jewish refugees at the cost of being sent to a concentration camp. Going back to David and Goliath’s story, while it may be true that it was a pebble’s centrifugal force that killed the huge giant, it was moral courage which enabled little David to face the Philistine giant in the first place. 14 year old Guru Gobind Singh did not hesitate in imploring his father to lay down his life when Kashmiri Pundits sought his help in battling against the atrocities of Muslim rulers on the issue of conversion. Two of his sons sacrificed their lives and were walled alive when they stubbornly refused to give up their faith. The issue here was not the conversion of religion but the belief in an ideology and the moral courage to stand up for what they believed in, even if it meant meeting a gory end. The essence of all religious scriptures is "man jeete, jag jeet". In overcoming your desires, lies the conquering of the world.

Courageous people therefore know who they are and what they have. They neither jump blindly at an opportunity nor do they risk throwing everything away. They accept the fact that they are fallible, human and can make mistakes. They know it is important to be in control and not at the mercy of the moment. Some of their greatest triumphs result from overcoming personal hardships which involve an internal struggle from darkness to light. Because winning by confronting and overcoming one’s personal problems and hardships is free from guilt that frequently comes with defeating others. Which is why the greatest successes are those of an individual triumphing over himself and symbolically conquering the weaknesses common to others. He concerns himself with his own faults and shortcomings without absolving himself of all blame. He accepts the reality of his limitations and tries to improve.