"without courage all other virtues are useless"

Edward Abbey says that in his book, Desert Solitaire, and at first I thought, man, this makes courage seem extra important... maybe a little snotty... anyway, the more I thought about it the more I wondered, would we live as we believe without courage?

Lately, I have been thinking about (and talking about... what else is new?) Christ. I do not call or consider myself Christian so I like to think about Christ as a literary figure, a character, just some guy. (Please don't think that I am trying to offend; for me it is merely a thought experiment.) His gospel, at its core, is one of love, but he was killed for it. To me this means that, as unfortunate as it may be, love is pretty dang radical. You don't get hunted down, violently and brutally beaten or murdered publicly on a cross for playing nice. He wasn't America's sweetheart, ya know? His message, lived out in his actions, was challenging. To some, it was downright terrifying.

In the most recent Harry Potter film (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1), after Harry and Hermione reach safety after their encounter with Nagini--a vicious snake possessed by Voldemort--Hermione plops down and suggests that the two grow old in the forest, aka in safety. Knowing the struggle with Nagini is characteristic of the fight they have chosen (or felt called to choose), giving up and growing old sounds pretty dang nice. Obviously they decide otherwise--why? I think it comes down to the peace of feeling consistent and harmonious with one's choices. Regardless of society, regardless of the pleasantness of "growing old," regardless of moral and ethical codes, we cannot be at peace with ourselves if we are not living in accordance with our beliefs no matter how radical they might be. To do so, to live in accordance with oneself and with any virtue, takes courage.