Wednesday, October 03, 2007

Courage - a brief thought

I heard Madeline Bunting's "Thought for the Day" on the Today programme this morning and she was talking about the courage being shown by the Burmese protestors and that they will need to continue to show as so many of them are carted of to what I assume will be a harsh and miserable internment (as opposed to imprisonment as I doubt they will see any, never mind a fair, trial).

It got me thinking, which was probably not a good idea while driving and quite so early in the morning, about the difference between 'hot' and 'cool' courage. The former is the heroism of dramatic rescues and military exploits - the sort of efforts that win headlines and medals, the latter (and this is where I see the Burmese mostly fitting) is the much less lauded struggle to stick to your convictions or continue your efforts in continual pain or discomfort, cold and lonely nights, or omnipresent fear.

The sort of courage that, for example, the late Jane Tomlinson demonstrated so utterly.

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