Courage and Cowardice

Courage and Cowardice

At last a few clear thoughts dancing in my head after the never-ending-head-pounding-speaker-breaking obfuscation and posturing of an impeachment squabble as never was intended by our dear country’s founders.

I once thought that the opposite of courage was cowardice. Words like craven and spineless came to mind.

I was proven wrong. Words like sycophant and toady now come to mind. I learned that lust for continuing power, under the jaundiced stink eye of the yellow-haired schoolyard bully causes courage to evaporate into so many noxious droplets that can be blown about by any passing wind. I learned that the opposite of courage is not cowardice but lust: the lust for personal power at any price.

The impeachment fracas taught me that the majority of the supposedly well-vetted people in the senate chamber care not so much for the sovereignty of truth as for the continuance of personal power, even at the cost of conscience.

Thusly manifested the rotting fish head phenomenon: When a fish rots, it starts at the head. Those body parts closest to the head join in with their own stench. They take on the deathly luster of the same gray (or yellow) decay. Led by the head, the gray/yellow stench was thick in the chambers of cowardly power and lingers still.

Courage means going forward in the face of danger, placing oneself in harm’s way despite fear; doing the right thing, particularly if doing so might be damaging to one’s future.

Courageous leadership is often a lonely path. During the impeachment “call to action”, while cowards shrunk, only one person placed himself in harm’s way. Mitt Romney should not have been left to stand alone. That he had to stand alone on the high hard rock of principle casts a pall of shame on those who averted their eyes and walked away.