The Farmville herald and farmer-leader. (Farmville, Va.) 1934-1957, 1955-08-12

brave But when a "
man does what he - - -
does knowing pref DR.. Foreman
~ we'll that he viii get hurt because
he does If, we call the man brave
Two Kinds Of Courage
There are two kinds 6f bravery
or courage. One we call physical
courage, the other is moral coar
age. The physical hero dashes into
a burning building or into swift
river, to save some ore else al
real peril to his own life He may
refuse to disclose an important
secret even though he is being
tortured to make him reveal Il
The moral hero stands ip for what
he knows is right even though this
makes him unpopular ~ ridiculous
in the eyes Of people WlGose good
will he would like to keep We
might say that physical courage
is determination in spite Of the
prospect Of bodily pain. moral
courage is determination in spite
Of the prospect Of mental or splr-
itual pain. Sometimes the two are
combined in the same act and the
same person. as with Daniel in the
stories assigned for This week
Moral courage being rather mofe
unusual than physical let us take
a look at that. especially.
Ridicule
Standing with the crowd never
takes courage Standing alone
against the crowd always calls for
courage. no matter What the crowd
is carrying Are they picking zip
stones? Then facing them calls for
physical courage Are they laugh
ing their heads off? Then facing
them calls for moral courage. The
one thing that most people are
afraid Of more than anything else
is being laughed at Ridicule can
be as cruel as any instrument 81
torture. Even men with keen
sense Of humor don't Ike, to he
made fun Of Why do people who
really know better, who down in
their consciences know it is wrong
for them to drink, drink and even
get drunk all the same2 The rea-
son is, they can't stand being
laughed at 1t takes courage 10
stand alone against a lailgh!
Contempt
Most men do not like 70 admit
having made mistake Il sounds
little like admitting one was a
fool And il has been observed that
most men can more easily admit
TO being knaves than fools: We
would almost rather be wicked
than look silly We can stand oppo-
Sltlon more easily than We can
stand contempt But tha; Is exactly
what calls for moral courage in
the man who stands alone No one
likes to be looked down on, no one
likes to be thought Of as so stupid
or out-of-line that no one wall re-
spect him But that is what young
Daniel was facing in Babylon, it
is what many today have, 10 face
To take our temperance. lllustrs-
ton again Why do many people
drink alcoholic liquors against
their better judgment They can't
stand up agains, the croAd Within
the memory Of living nsn there
was a White House hostess who
would not serve liquor al State dim
ners. no matter who was there
Many foreign ambassadors wrote
home contemptuously about it, but
she stood TO her convictions Not
many have courage Of fhat sort.
Loneliness
Dare to be a Daniel dare 10
stand alone,'' is easy 10 sing, hard
to do. The sheer weight II mum,
bers oVerpoWers people They viii
climb aboard any bandWag9n if II
looks crowded they via nor ven
ture into heavenly chariot III they,
have 10 ride alone II takes little
moral courage 10 stand ~ and De
counted with minority Il takes
great deal more 10 stand up and
be counted THE minority Of One.
But such courage is possible Dam
lei showed 1t; he showed that his
moral courage was matched by his
physical courage And after all. he
vas not In the minority after all
God was on his side. or rather ne
was on Gods side, and tfsst made
the difference. Many tiEne good
cause has been lost not by weak
ness but by eowardice. cat zon the
other hand good causes have been
saved by ren Who believed in
their regimes. SO deeply mat ra,h-
er thar deny Their faith they
would Se buried alive in loneliness
tBasea ss ses..e. eee-r.ektss hy ~.
Dtsfeisa ~ Christian Eeeeastas N.-
ueaai Csrne;' - the Csu.chst =. Ss-,.t
N ~. A released by Csrn r. uni,y
Service