Description: Words, words, words
What’s the line between brave and reckless ? Between brave and foolhardy ? Between brave and foolish ? Between brave and careless ? Between brave and depraved ? At what point does a sincere “Bravo!” slope into a sarcastic “Bravo”? When does amazed “Wow!” slide over to scornful “Wow”? How many shades are there of “You have got to be kidding me” – and how many of them are one or another kind of “brave”? How do we distinguish between raw courage and mere brouhaha?
Of course the lines will be drawn differently by different people. Some people admire sports such as wingsuit flying and BASE jumping, and take the inevitable “in memoriam” rolls at the ends of videos of such sports as evidence of sheer valor; others find them to be the most senseless thrill seeking, and take the “in memoriam” rolls as proof. Some admire those who summit Everest, or K2, or Kangchenjunga, or Denali; others have little or nothing good to say about them.
And some admire such feats but deny that they are brave, because they involve risk only for personal adventure and reward, and not for the sake of others. Bravery, in such a view, is heroism – and by “hero” meaning not someone who has endured hardship when they had no other real choice, but someone who could have had continued to live an easy and acceptable life but chose to face strain or danger for the sake of another (or others).
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