Wishful thinking

A person sitting in a train, going to another country, coz of war in homeland, hoping for a wonderful place - that's wishful thinking

A person who's sitting in a cubicle and dreaming/visualising about being the CEO or something - that's wishful thinking

A person waiting to 'fall' in love - that's wishful thinking

A person going about doing his daily routines waiting for something cool to happen in his life ... (movies like matrix, wanted etc. earn heavily on this feeling) - that's wishful thinking

A person going through rough times 'knowing' that things will become better - that's wishful thinking

Wishful thinking is anything that 'avoids' work .... and gives a feeling of comfort

It can be very useful in 'difficult' situations but one who constantly dreams like this is just trying to repress his own feelings and powerlessness and justify his own sloth ....

Excessive dose of wishful thinking can be curbed by courage ... wishful thinking of 'making your life a way you would feel alive' would need perhaps the highest does of courage ....


Courage

Once out in the battlefield with a sword and shield, it doesn't need courage to fight - it's kill or be killed.

Once in the possession of things; it doesn't need much courage to 'risk' losing those things to try to get better things -- like it's doesn't require much courage to risk you assets to acquire other companies even when the risk involves being bankrupt ...

It doesn't require much courage to kill yourself either -- depressed ones just kill coz their life is not one to be lived, some sacrifise their life for their loved ones ...

if mainly driven by anger and frustration; it doesn't require much courage to fight a very powerful enemy ...

Courage is not taking 'risks' where chances/probabilty of success can be atleast vaguely calculated

Courage is not a strong person risking hurting himself trying to defend a weak one

Courage is not sacrifising your luxuries for the welfare of the society

Courage is not even a warrior's defense of his pride (in form of clan/nation of just his 'manhood') by fighting a strong enemy with whom he's most likey lose his life ....

(ok too much exaggeration; now getting to the point)

courage is a weak poor man trying to defend his 8year old son from the bullet of soldier's gun

courage is a warrior giving up his pride (like in sacrificing his life for 'proving' or other stupid reasons) for the better of his clan/nation/family/himself especially when everyone around his will joke at his 'non-manliness'/cowardice

courage is the weak staring the eyes of powerful (i wanted here to write God but couldn't sepearted the omnipotent part from other 'attributes') and saying 'no'; knowing that that will be his doom (the powerful can be the society which set the norms for 'respectable' doing -- like sacrificing life for country - not that that's bad ... but maybe the courage of martyrdom is actually just fear of bad-will among society or something)

courage is looking inside your own self and accepting your (real) self (the most courageous thing of all i guess)

courage is like fighting the tornado when all you have is a stick ... (although it might be the stupidity)

found this quote on http://www.quotegarden.com/conformity.html which i read after writhing the 'know thyself' below while searching for a completely different quote :) :

"Common experience shows how much rarer is moral courage than physical bravery. A thousand men will march to the mouth of the cannon where one man will dare espouse an unpopular cause." ~Clarence Darrow, Resist Not Evil


Know thyself

If you know your own self then, i think, courage will come automatically for doing other things - coz there will be no conflict between 'what should i do -- this means that thing goes wrong and that means the other thing goes wrong' -- it will not be a 'this' or 'that' choice that you weigh and choose (like weighing life and pride) - it will be saying 'no' when you know something is against what you essentially are ... even when that thing is God himself ... (replace god by any other superpowerful or fearful thing that makes this more effective)

But there's plenty of courage required just to accept yourself :

Your shortcomings obviously
but much more than that what 'you can do' coz you will be afraid of doing that ... coz ... you are used to the way you are living now ... how will you live otherwise .... how will you manage doing this and that ... how will you be acceptable to the society ...
and there will always be the lucrative option of 'compromise', which generally is nothing more than a sort of surrender from your part

Real compromise is accepting hardships to 'be yourself' not sacrificing the alive/humun part to 'ease' your path ...

(wanted to write more ... therefore did not post it the same day (sunday) ... but i think that should not be the way (or no more than one day delay :) ) will write next on 'courage and narcissism' i guess :) and 'the tragedies of life'