Values Matter

I suspect that most people would like to think that there are a set of universal human values that, even if it is a struggle to adhere to them, we still might think are worthy of trying to follow. The values on which I have chosen to comment are those which positively affect our relationships with our fellow humans. These values are courage, moderation, generosity, humility, integrity and forgiveness.¹ There are other values of course. Mark Carney, in a different context, highlights no fewer than 32 values, eight of which are mentioned four or more times: solidarity, fairness, responsibility, resilience, sustainability, dynamism, integrity and humility and he frequently mentions the need for compassion.² Only humility and integrity correspond directly but he does mention the values espoused by Thomas Aquinos: courage, justice, moderation and wisdom.³

In The Book of Joy, the Dalai Lama and Desmond Tutu discuss eight pillars of joy: perspective, humility, humor, acceptance, forgiveness, gratitude, generosity and compassion.⁴ Three coincide closely with the values that I chose to emphasize.  There are other values of course such as family, inclusiveness, kindness and justice, some of which are derivatives of those I have chosen to discuss.

It is obvious that such values are violated daily by criminals, potentates and even by well-meaning plebeians such as me.  As I write, Vladimir Putin has unleashed his military against Ukraine and its people, first in Crimea and the rest of the country, violating most, if not every one of these values. I make no attempt at trying to explain why values are so frequently violated or why evil exists. There are many outstanding books on this subject, many that blame it on the devil, a position to which I would not adhere.

Following are my thoughts on the first of the values on which I wish to explore; courage.

All too frequently we hear about, or see, the aftermath of terrorist activity in our own country and around the world. These accounts certainly bring to mind the tragedy that was the twin towers. Immediately following the 9/11 attack, Bill Maher disagreed with President George W. Bush and others who called the terrorists cowards. He did not suggest they were courageous but one might jump to the conclusion that not being a coward, not being unwilling to deliberately die for a cause is not the same as being courageous. In my view, this is an outrageous interpretation of the meaning of courage. One should never dignify immoral acts that deliberately and needlessly harm others, by calling them courageous.⁶  From my perspective, following the lead of Kahlil Gibran’s poem, Reason and Passion, the twin towers of courage are just that, reason and passion.

He states:                                                                                                                                          

One can also identify two different types of courage. The first type is physical courage; the courage it takes to risk one’s life by trying to save one or more individuals in grave physical danger. The second form is moral courage; the courage to stand up for beliefs and the courage to face life’s adversities with dignity and grace. Both types of courage have the same root, and the root of courage is “cour” from both Latin and French, meaning heart. The word courage also contains the word rage, a base form of passion. True courage, in my view, is rage or passion, with a heart. Passion with a heart is compassion. Courageous people help others; they do not harm others. As W. H. Auden stated, “We are put on this earth to help others, what on earth the others are here for I don’t know.” The heart is a very strong symbol standing for tenderness, thoughtfulness, compassion and love. We have expressions such as heartfelt, from the bottom of our hearts or heart of gold. We also have the word hearten and heartwarming. There is the verb “to encourage”, to give people heart, i.e. encouragement. Finally, we have the expression “take heart”, a synonym of courage. When the heart is mentioned in a negative context it is because we are heartless or cold-hearted or have a black heart. These are perverted hearts.                                                                                   

Some people, and it seems young men in particular, choose to lash out physically at what they consider to be grave injustices. For most people, these impulses or passions are tamed through the development of a social conscience. As Robert Ingersoll stated, “Courage without conscience is a wild beast.” In true courage, reason and passion are intimate companions, the opposite sides of the same leaf. As Kahlil Gibran more eloquently states in the passage you just heard:

For reason, ruling alone is a force confining; passion, unattended, is a flame that burns to its own destruction.

How do we tame the wild beast? How do we bring reason and passion into balance? To paraphrase what Robert Sibley said in a recent Ottawa Citizen article, we depend on our family, and political, educational and religious institutions to teach our young people the code of civility. We learn to treat others as we would have them treat us. The development of civil society is dependent on being open, rather than closed, open to new ideas, not closed off by fundamentalist or literalist views. Thus for me, the only acts which can rightfully be called courageous are those which are compassionate. That is why the 9/11 perpetrators, the bombers in Boston and the all-too-common suicide bombers should never be dignified with the word courage.

First, these people failed the rule of compassion. They failed to learn the basic principles of civil society on the one hand, and religious principles on the other. Those who commit such acts in the name of religion are condemned by an overwhelming majority of followers. I mentioned two types of courage, physical and moral. I will now address physical courage for a moment.

There are numerous examples in the Bible of this physical courage. David confronting Goliath is the most famous story. In modern times there are countless examples. We witnessed this form of courage during the Boston bombing when first responders and ordinary citizens rushed to help survivors despite the danger of more bombs being ready to explode. They did so out of the desire and the passion to help others in distress. We saw this when a father tried to re-enter his burning home in the town of Thurso, Quebec, to try and save his two daughters who tragically died in the fire.

I must add a word of caution about this type of courage, as noble as it is. Too often, acts of physical courage do not combine reason with passion because people act impulsively, from passion alone. It often results in the death of those attempting the rescue. As my swimming instructor constantly reminded us, if you do not know how to rescue someone, stay on the shore. Otherwise, there will likely be two tragedies. A 39-year-old man dove into the Ottawa River to save a 12-year-old son of a friend.  The boy was helped by another swimmer, the older man, a weak swimmer, died.⁸                 

None of us know how we will react if we see a house on fire or someone crying for help after falling into a river. The instinct or passion to rescue someone is not enough; combine it with knowledge and this usually spells police officer, fire fighter or paramedic or others trained to deal with such crises. They are courageous, but combine passion and knowledge. King David, when just a lad, combined his passion to help his king and nation with his knowledge of killing bears and lions in bringing down Goliath. I was trained in swift water rescues and was called to help in a half dozen cases, none requiring me to take extraordinary risks. In all cases , I was either able to use a rope from the shore or remain in a canoe.                                                                                                             

You will remember I mentioned moral courage as one of the two types of courage. It may include risking one’s life by standing up for those who are persecuted or standing up for what is right, despite the consequences. A few years ago, a Russian lawyer, Sergei Magnitsky, uncovered a tax fraud and reported it to the justice department. Because the justice department was implicated in the fraud, they threw him in jail, tortured him in an effort to get him to confess to the fraud himself. He refused and eventually died in custody. A man burned himself to death in protest over corrupt police practices and started the Arab Spring. Suffragettes broke some ordinance or other and were taken to jail. Many know the story of Jackie Robinson. He showed tremendous moral courage by not lashing back, physically or verbally at his transgressors. As his coach said, you can show courage by fighting back or you can show even greater courage by not fighting back.                                                                  

One time when I was certain I was called on to use moral courage, I failed.  A friend and I were hitchhiking back to Flin Flon, Manitoba from Winnipeg for our summer jobs. We were standing on the highway waiting for a ride. There was an Indigenous woman also hitch hiking, standing 20 meters down the road from us. A car drove up and stopped 20-25 meters ahead of us. We ran, jumped in and the driver instantly took off, ignoring the woman. We then realized he had stopped ahead of us, well ahead of the woman, so he would not have to take her too. We looked sheepishly at each other but did not protest or ask him to let us out, thinking we would have to wait hours for the next generous traveler.                                                                                                                                     

One of the origins of passive resistance is obviously The New Testament. When Peter let his passion run away with him and cut off the ear of the high priest’s slave, Jesus scolded him with the words “Put your sword back into its sheaf”.⁹ Shakespeare may have been inspired by this scene from the Bible when he penned the words for Othello which put a stop a quarrel among his men, namely, “Keep up your bright swords, for the dew will rust them”.¹⁰  Surely the lessons were not lost neither on Dietrich Bonheoffer who died at the hands of Hitler nor Mahatma Gandhi’s movement of passive resistance in gaining Indian independence nor on Martin Luther King Jr. who practiced pacifism. Both died from assassins’ bullets.

If you want to make a political statement it’s not courageous to plant bombs or commit suicide by blowing yourself up along with scores of innocent people. That is the act of a fanaticized brain, not courage. Chain yourself to a fence on parliament hill, get arrested, write articles and letters, campaign for office, write letters, speak on street corners, speak truth to power.  This second part of moral courage deals with meeting life’s adversities with grace and dignity. We all know people who demonstrate this overwhelming courage. Will we find the courage needed  if faced with a life challenging adversity?