Manly Man #28 : Medal of Courage

The Medal of courage pictured above is a medal given by the Israeli army in combat times for gallantry in the risk of life to save others.  This medal has six crossed swords with an olive branch.  The red ribbon represents the blood and fire of battle.

The Kings Medal of Courage from the English Government was given primarily to foreigners during WWII who endangered their own lives to help English citizens escape or be safe from the enemy.

The Medal of courage from Armenia is awarded to those who show courage in defending the fatherland, show courage in rescue operations or for performing their duties in life threatening situations.

The Medill Medal for courage in journalism is given for those who work for media outlet and show moral, physical or ethical courage in the pursuit of the story.

Manly men must be courageous as well.  So if there were a medal to give to a manly man of courage what would it look like?  What would it be symbolic of?  What would be the requirements to achieve it?

If you are an artistic person please draw or make a medal that could be used for the Manly Man of Courage Medal.  Or help me decide what the criteria should be.  Write and tell me what you think.

If you are have strong thoughts about the criteria for such and aware: The Manly Man Courage Medal, then please write me about that.

If you are both artistic and thinking strongly, then let me hear from you about both.

Here are some quotes I found about courage: 

Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen.  ~Winston Churchill

Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgement that something else is more important than fear.  ~Ambrose Redmoon

Courage doesn't always roar.  Sometimes courage is the little voice at the end of the day that says I'll try again tomorrow.  ~Mary Anne Radmacher

Courage is doing what you're afraid to do.  There can be no courage unless you're scared.  ~Edward Vernon Rickenbacker

Courage is not simply one of the virtues, but the form of every virtue at the testing point.  ~C.S. Lewis

True courage is not the brutal force of vulgar heroes, but the firm resolve of virtue and reason.  ~Alfred North Whitehead

Invictus & Nelson Mandela

Tonight my wife got the movie Invictus and we watched it together.  I heard about this movie when it came out in 2009 and thought it sounded good and that I would like it but it just hasn't risen to the top of things I wanted to do until tonight.  Wow!  It was great.

After the movie the comment to my wife was something like this: "We hear all about people who do terrible things both today in the news and from history but we don't hear much about people who do great things like this".  I had always known that Nelson Mandela was a man who had done great things but this movie really made me more starkly aware of a little of the difficulties he went through.  The movie is well worth seeing. 

Morgan Freeman and Nelson Mandela

Morgan Freeman and Matt Damon do a good job acting in the movie--especially Morgan Freeman.  I have always enjoyed his acting (except in the movie Driving Miss Daisy). 

The title of the movie comes from a poem written by William Ernest Henley.  Henley was a large man with a red beard.  One leg was amputated as a result of "Tuberculosis of the bone".  His other foot was also diseased.  He spent a lot of time in the hospital and struggled to complete school much less work.  After recovering from his disease he married and had a daughter who was very sickly. 

Because of his strength and resiliency, Henley was the pattern that Robert Louis Stevenson used to create his character Long John Silver in Treasure Island.  Coincidentally his daughter Margaret Henley was the inspiration for Wendy in Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie.  Margaret died at age 5.  With Henley's familiarity with trouble and limitations it is no surprise that Invictus is his most known and such a powerful work. It seems to mirror his life long efforts to not be cowed by difficulty and circumstance.

The movie is a real treasure and the poem could give one much to contemplate as well. 

See below for a YouTube movie trailer. 

I will say that the soundtrack from the movie is enjoyable as well. 

Seeing this movie makes me wonder, right now, where are the men that are doing these great things that are influencing others for good.  Nelson Mandela did it on a national scale, but can't we all do it in a local scale and impact our neighbors and communities for good?  Who knows, some few of us may have the opportunity to impact a country or maybe the world for good. 

The scary part of the deal is that often men of this stripe must go through "the refiners fire" or in other words be tried and tested by reversals and struggle to build the strength that is needed to impact others for good.  Many of us would run the other way if we knew in advance that was the payment for the strength of character needed to be a power for good in the world. 

I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.