Our world as it is today, is quite different from what it used to be. In the past, survival was a struggle. Humanity was nomadic in nature, so we did not have homes or safety. Every meal was a fight. Then, we finally learned how to grow food and build permanent homes.
When we no longer had to fight nature, we began to fight each other. There were wars and genocides in our past. There were plagues and famines. However, our ancestors endured through it all. They were courageous.
In the past, courage meant far more than just being brave. Courage meant being able to find a single sliver of hope in unbearable, unrelenting darkness and clinging to it. Courage meant holding your own dreams hostage because sacrifice was the only way for you or your loved ones to live. Courage meant being a good person even when you were powerless and suffering.
Today our world is different. We no longer have to do all the things that our ancestors had to do. Living no longer means just surviving. Courage no longer requires sacrifice or suffering.
Sometimes we may wonder, what does courage even mean for young people like us? If we do not fight in wars or struggle through starvation every day, what shape should our courage take? Do we need courage anymore? The importance of our courage is not any less than that of our ancestors, it is only different in nature. For young people, to be courageous means to have the strength to love even the cruellest persons and help them receive a chance to see the beauty within our world – a chance to change. It means remembering that even though our own lives are different, there are still people who are starving and fighting in wars that they did not start. It means giving people power through your own voice.
In the past, courage meant enduring pain and suffering, which our ancestors endured to build a world where their children did not have to do the same. They have built a world where the definition of courage has changed into something more graceful.
Do not be fooled into believing that courage means bloodshed. Do not believe that courage is being unfazed by violence. Most importantly, do not dare to think that courage should ever be more powerful than the instinct that helps us protect life and not take it.
The new shape of our courage pays homage to the vision our ancestors had for us. It gives meaning to everything that they had to go through. So, when we ask a young person to be courageous, let it not be to encourage them to fight and destroy. Let it not be for them to tolerate abuse and violence. Let it not be to accept the dark and broken aspects of our world. Instead, let it be something they use to mend the things that they believe are broken. Let it be to build a future where brutality and agony are completely non-existent. Let courage be their ability to dream and make their dreams come true.
