Fear and Courage
November 3, 2008
In these times of uncertainties, many experience the feeling or the emotion of fear. Fear of not having enough money, losing a job and of other circumstances that could be life-changing, such as developing a serious health condition of even another terrorist attack.
Last week’s issue of US News and World Report asked the question on the cover page: "How scared should you be?"
Fear often has a negative effect on our behavior. It can lead to procrastination or even paralysis. It can prevent us from taking appropriate action. Irrational fear (or panic) can lead us to irrational measures that could have severe consequences.
Russ Banham, the veteran business journalist and author of The Fear Factor says that : "Fear warps people’s ability to think straight, crippling their capacity to make prudent decision. "
Jeffrey McCracken, of the Wall Street Journal, reporting on a recent meeting of about 1,000 business leaders in New Orleans, says that: "World markets are in panic. Bankruptcy fears dog the economy."
Sometimes fear can prevent us from doing what is right. Some people are afraid that making the right ethical decision might have a negative business result or even compromise their career.
But fear can also have a positive role. It may prevent us from taking dangerous action. The fear of the consequences of breaking the law often prevents illegality.
How should we then deal with fear in both our professional and private life?
a. We should analyze our fears to determine if they are rational or irrational.
b. We should ignore, in what we do, the fear that we have determined to be irrational
c. We should show courage and wisdom in our actions when dealing with fears that are rational.
Courage is considered a very good virtue. Courage is not the absence of fear (that would be temerity) but doing what we know is right ethically and otherwise in spite of our fear.
The author and minister, James Clarke Freeman, who lived in New England in the 19th century and who was a strong advocate for the abolition of slavery once said:
"Conscience is the root of all true courage; if a man would be brave let him obey his conscience."
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