Despite what the movies teach us, courage doesn\u2019t just mean bravery \u2013 it also means facing our fears, overcoming life\u2019s difficulties, and doing the right thing regardless of what others might think of us. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Baha\u2019i<\/a> teachings ask all human beings to actively work to develop the attribute of courage. Abdu\u2019l-Baha<\/a>, in a talk he gave in Paris early in the 20th<\/sup> century, asked everyone in that gathering \u201cTo be so faithful and sincere in all your actions that every member may be known as embodying the qualities of honesty, love, faith, kindness, generosity, and courage.<\/strong>\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dave Eberwein, the author of Six Types of Courage<\/em>, elucidates courage as \u201ca prerequisite for change to happen because change creates uncertainty. And uncertainly can lead to fear and apprehension for change. So, being courageous as a leader is important.\u201d Eberwein lists six types of courage:<\/p>\n\n\n\n However, Eberwein adds, in order to be courageous we need to be genuine \u2013 both to ourselves and others. When we genuinely try to be courageous, we find the balance and ability to be comfortable with who we are and the confidence to accept personal change. Thus, we become a leader with determined courage in times of uncertainty. Linda Popov in The Family Virtues Guide <\/em>notes that if we feel afraid, we can recognize our fear, name it, and let it go. That allows us to make a wise and courageous decision to go ahead and do the right thing, even if we still feel afraid. <\/p>\n\n\n\n With courage we become confident but not arrogant, consistent but open to personal change, and comfortable but still eager to learn more and more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Mary Ann Radmacher, a writer and an artist, has a beautiful explanation of this wonderful human quality: \u201cCourage doesn\u2019t always roar. Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying \u2018I will try again tomorrow.\u2019\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Courage gives us the ability to change the world to a better place for ourselves and others. Many courageous individuals throughout history have helped humanity progress. For example, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.<\/a>, the brave civil rights leader, courageously stood up for equality and human rights. In the mid-nineteenth century, two courageous leaders of the women\u2019s rights movement \u2013 Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony \u2013 started advocating for women\u2019s rights in the United States. <\/p>\n\n\n\n At the same time in Iran, a courageous woman named Zarin-Taj, later known as Tahirih, who was born into a religious Muslim family, heard of a new prophet named the Bab (meaning \u201cthe Gate\u201d). Tahirih accepted the Bab\u2019s new Faith<\/a>, became a Babi, and as a result met with strong opposition from her family and her society. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Her courageous embrace of the Bab\u2019s new revelation<\/a> caused her to suffer many consequences. When she escaped house arrest to meet with the principal Babi teachers in the Persian city of Badasht, Tahirih removed her veil, in direct defiance of Muslim law \u2013 because the new religion she believed in called for the equality of men and women. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Tahirih means \u201cthe pure one\u201d \u2013 a title that Baha\u2019u\u2019llah<\/a>, the prophet and founder of the Baha\u2019i Faith<\/a>, whom the Bab<\/a> called \u201cHim Whom God Shall Make Manifest\u201d \u2013 gave her at the Badasht conference. <\/p>\n\n\n\n