Theirs not to make reply,
Theirs not to reason why,
Theirs but to do and die:
Into the Valley of Death
Rode the six hundred
-Alfred ,Lord Tennyson
Based on these lines from the poem 'The Charge of the Light Brigade' by Alfred,Lord Tennyson describing the disastrous Battle of Balaclava in the Crimean War; where the british soldiers marched on inspite of knowing that they were going to die. Inspired by this, Michael Orr wrote an essay on Courage for his School Paper in the movie The Blind Side which really moved me :
Courage is a hard thing to figure. You can have courage based on a dumb idea or a mistake. But you’re not supposed to question adults or your coach or your teacher because they make the rules. Maybe they know best or maybe they don’t. It all depends on who you are, where you come from. Didnt atleast one of the six hundred guys think of giving up and joining with the other side? I mean The Valley Of Death! That's pretty salty stuff.That’s why courage is tricky. Should you always do what others tell you to do? Sometimes, you might not even know why you’re doing something. I mean any fool can have courage, but honour, that's the real reason you do something or you don't. Its who you are and maybe who you want to be. If you die trying for something important then you have both honour and courage and that's pretty good. I think that's what the writer was saying, that you should hope for courage and try for honour and maybe even pray that the people telling you what to do have some too.
Courage is to pursue something even though one may be fully aware of the consequences of failing in the attempt. In the movie Troy Hector bids farewell to fight Achilles,everyone knows he is going to die yet he proceeds his head held high..he would rather die with honor than to survive as a coward. even Achilles is forewarned that he will die if he chooses to take part in battle of Troy yet he chooses death for glory. When one does something without knowing why that's not courage..it might be hope or blind belief or sheer foolishness as they have only a slight or no clue at all in the purpose ,in the outcome..i wud say its faith n not courage.And courage is not just physical bravery.. to stand up in what you believe to question why abt the things u dont understand..i think the 600 men surely knew that death was waiting for them ahead but they also knew why.. it was their purpose to fight till their last breadth, that was their destiny and they fulfilled it..
ReplyDeletei am not sure whether this complements or contradicts ur views..but i know this courage based on a dumb idea , is not courage at all..
Cannons to left of them Cannons to right of them...I still remember this poem from my 11th standard..i sang this to my friend with the tune from titanic where Jack and Rose drink root beer and dance...