Sunday, April 22, 2007
Where Does Courage Come From?
Reflecting upon the heroic actions of 76-year-old Professor Liviu Librescu in the recent Virginia Tech shootings, writer Graeme Hamilton writes about courage in a recent article in Canada’s National Post.
It’s a thoughtful piece that I think wargamers would appreciate. A couple of highlights:
The professor’s heroism gives rise to some awkward questions: How could a single gunman kill 30 people in one building without being overpowered? Why are acts of courage like Prof. Librescu’s so uncommon?
The nature of courage has preoccupied thinkers since ancient times. Aristotle called courage “the first of human qualities, because it is the quality which guarantees the others.” The philosopher saw courage as a virtue lying between the two extremes of cowardice and fearlessness, a notion echoed by Plato, who wrote: “A man becomes perfect in courage by fighting against and conquering the cowardice within him.”
When considering a tragedy like Virginia Tech, people naturally wonder whether they would be “perfect in courage” if confronted with similar circumstances. Would they have reacted like Mr. Librescu? Would they have risked their lives to save others?
William I. Miller, author of an acclaimed book on the topic, The Mystery of Courage
, believes that for most of us, the answer to those questions is no. ”
Miller, a professor of law and history at the University of Michigan has researched American Civil War battles extensively and has found that it is nearly impossible to predict who will behave in a heroic fashion, and who will break.
Another interesting finding was that courage is not inexhaustible. Valiant soldiers can only be asked to go to the well so many times before cracking under pressure. But, by the same token, someone who fled battle in one instance could “deliver in spades in the next one because he was so ashamed,” Prof. Miller found.
As hard as it is to ask the question, the thought arises: How did a lone gunman manage to kill all of those people. Several have reported that they watched him reload before starting shooting again. If ten or twelve people had rushed him at such a moment, he almost certainly would have been taken down. A couple fo people might have been kileld in the process ... but if you’re going to die anyway ...
The article cites two instances in which people did just that. In 2002, an Australian professor disarmed a heavily armed gunman who entered his room. And in 1998, a 17-year-old disarmed a high school gunman as he was reloading.
Miller wonders
whether such acts will be come only rarer, whether Western society has become so risk-averse that we are increasingly incapable of heroism. He despairs when he sees kids in his Michigan neighbourhood wearing “armour at the level of a medieval knight” as they learn to ride a bicycle and hears that touch football has been banned at the local elementary school because the ball is pointed.
“We so shield our children and ourselves from any encounter where we’re called on to deliver,” he said.
Finally, the article brings up the issue of soldiers in places like Iraq, who every day face death and perform countless small acts of heroism, such as heading into places where they know there are terrorist waiting to kill them.
There’s so much more there, too. Give it a read.
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