I have been thinking about three words lately and those are: courage, bravery, and heroism. It seems like they are often used interchangeably, but as I went to the dictionary for a precise definition I received an education. As I thought about these words, I thought courage was a willingness to be brave and bravery was when you really had to come through when things were scary or going very badly. Here are the actual definitions:

Courage: The ability to face danger, difficulty, uncertainty, or pain without being overcome by fear or being deflected from a chosen course of action.

Bravery: Extreme courage in the face of danger or difficulty

Hero: Remarkably brave person

I learned that the words are a hierarchy, which makes their use not interchangeable at all rather degrees that must be assessed by someone. There is a hierarchy in the military as well. There are those who do not deploy; those who deploy to safe areas that could be in danger; there are those who deploy in areas of danger and get bombed; there are those who walk the streets of the bad areas protecting the innocents; and then, there are those who go out looking for bad guys. For civilians, those in the military are often called our nations heroes. For us in the military many of us do not feel like heroes. We have not done anything “remarkably brave”. Those who have to deploy and still carry out their jobs while bombs, mortars or rockets are falling would fit the criteria of having “courage”. I think this is where I would fit in. I recently received an email from my older brother. He said, “….glad to hear that you're not going up in the copters too much, one combat medal is enough don't you think”. The combat medal he is referring to is a medal I received for aerial flight during combat. It is a medal that requires acts of courage from the recipient. Flying in helicopters or airplanes that could be shot at, is considered courageous, so that is why I received it once I had done this at least 20 times. My reply to him will require some explanation. My reply was, “Yeah one combat medal is enough. Bravery and heroism are over rated as a volunteer. It is another thing if it thrust upon you.” I wrote this before I knew the exact definitions, but I think even then that I knew there was a difference between being courageous and being brave or a hero. I can elect to be courageous and go into harms way. I can continue caring for a person during an alarm red, when mortars and rockets are coming into the base. I can volunteer for that level of courage. I think bravery and heroism, is a much more difficult decision and has fewer volunteers. Courage of the level I have written about seems tolerable for me. To some it might not be, for others the activities I am involved in my not seem courageous at all. However, to take what I am doing and raise that to the level of extreme courage, that is a level most do not want to be involved in, much less raise your hand and step forward. These are often the tough decisions commanders make when they have to choose which men are going out on dangerous assignments. When God was picking warriors, he had people who were afraid go home. We have the same system, in a sense, in our all volunteer military. Those who are too afraid do not have to join.

One can see that if brave is extremely courageous and a hero is a remarkably brave person, then a hero has extremely remarkable courage.

I thought of one such person today. This is a man who knew he had an assignment to do but even to the last moment was seeing if he could get out of it. He had volunteered but as the time got closer to becoming a hero, the task loomed larger and the realness of the act he was going to perform was becoming truly daunting. The man became so stressed over the act he was going to be asked to undertake that he started sweating drops of blood, which can happen under episodes of extreme stress. The place this event occurred was in the Garden of Gethsemane; the man who had to make a choice was Jesus Christ; the task he had before him: take all of the punishment for my sins. He could choose not to do it. He could choose to have thousands of angels come and take him away. He prayed to his Father, “My Father! If it is possible, let this cup pass from Me. Yet not as I will, but as You will.” Matthew 26:39. Earlier, I wrote about a hero being a person who is willing to die for another. People often ask me why I love Jesus so much. Have you ever seen how a person feels about the one who gave their life so the survivor could live? Jesus died for me so that I could live for eternity. He had a choice, take all of the ridicule, pain and suffering of a horrible death of crucifixion for me or go back to heaven knowing I would never be there. It is humbling to know that He loves me more than I ever love him. He is my true hero. On the cross He demonstrated extremely remarkable courage and one more thing….Love.

Solis Deo Gloria

More thoughts to come