“Courage is……when u know you’ve been licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through not matter what.” Atticus Finch (Harper Lee )
This is a very powerful and almost inspiring quote from the novel To Kill A Mocking Bird by Harper Lee. It depicts my very idea of the word courage. I also believe that courage is when man learns from his mistake and goes at the problem again, if he has a second chance. Atticus is completely right, in my opinion. Past experiences and examples from literature show how he is right. This quote shows how you don’t have to be strong to still be courageous and how such a powerful thing can come from so little.
This quote brings me to a an instance of my past. I am a tennis player and frequently play tournaments. Last year in New York I was ranked in the top 20, but in a tournament in May I had play the #6 ranked player in the east. I knew that I couldn’t win I was “licked”. I sed to myself when you’ve got nothing you’ve got nothing to lose. It gave me a boost of confidence to still try my best. Surprisingly my best was better than his, I took an early 6-0 first set and was up 4-0 40-love in the second. He was licked now. I was four points away from winning but he had the courage to come back. He won the second set 6-4. I still would not give up, I still put up a fight in the third set but ended up losing 7-5. This example shows how I was courageous because I was the underdog and still put up a great fight without giving up. This example also shows how my opponent was courageous because he came back from the shadows of defeat to actually win.
Johnny Gunther was one of the most courageous men I have ever read about. In the novel Death Be Not Proud by John Gunther, Johnny suffers from a malignant tumor, which shows to be terminal. Johnny was an excellent student one of the best and he was going to go to Harvard until he is crushed with the fatal disease yet he still continues daily activities he still tries school work to put it another way he was still fighting. He wouldn’t give up till the very end. Not only that he was optimistic the whole time. Johnny Gunther and his battle showed him to have the same amount of courage our brave soldiers had on D-Day when they invaded northern France. Ironically Johnny never actually learns of his powerful courage, he died before he could see it. Johnny was fighting to battles the disease on one hand and the fight to find the courage he needed to continue with life everyday. The quote, here shows how your battle doesn’t always have to be physical It can be an emotional struggle for the courage to continue life this is what Johnny showed us.
There are many lessons one can learn from an inspiring quote such as this one. When you are down and don’t get up it shows no courage. But to rise above it all takes true courage. Don’t be fooled by the quote though this is not the only form of courage it comes in many forms. The message of this quote is that courage in simple terms is when you can survive a problem and know that you couldn’t survive. Courage comes in many ways but our quote tells us that true courage is not the measurement of bravery in a person true courage is when you get up even when you can’t. In the end it comes down to who wins facing the toughest odds.