Editorial August 8, 1983 Issue

The courage to stand fast

WILLIAM E. MOODY

In Stephen Crane's novel about the American Civil War, an Army private named Henry Fleming undergoes an intense inner conflict as he struggles to determine the measure of his courage in the line of fire. Crane depicts one scene where Fleming is surveying the aftermath of a battle that he has just fled. The young soldier wants his worth to show. "He wished that he, too, had a wound," Crane writes, "a red badge of courage."^{Stephen Crane, The Red Badge of Courage (New York: Harcourt, Brace and World, Inc., 1960), p. 37 .}

Crane's protagonist is primarily concerned with what he views as the nobility of animal courage. But the great need in contemporary life is for an even higher courage—moral and spiritual courage. In the Christian Science textbook, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy states, "There is too much animal courage in society and not sufficient moral courage."^{Science and Health, pp. 28-29.}

Most people have probably wondered at some time about the extent of their own mettle—perhaps about their ability to respond fearlessly should they be faced with some severe trial they have not yet encountered. Would one have the fortitude to stand for what is right regardless of how threatening the circumstance appeared to be? And what if one should falter—is there a way to regain one's position and self-respect, to go forward on the side of righteousness and truth?

Send a comment to the editors

NEXT IN THIS ISSUE

Editorial

Take your life out of limbo