A famous person has said that a person must not turn his back on a dangerous threat and try to avoid it. If you do that, you will double the danger. But if confronted with it, the danger will be halved. Never escape anything, never! Remember that a man with a mature mind is not trapped in his own difficulties, but is brave enough to face it, accept it, and then find a way to overcome it or solve it. Such people do not beg, do not despair, nor find excuses to escape.

A father was really worried about his son, who was sixteen years old but had no courage at all. So the father decided to call on a Buddhist monk to train his child.

The Buddhist monk said to the boy's father, “You should leave your son alone here. I'll make him into a real man within three months. However, you can't come to see him during this period.”

Three months later, the boy's father returned. The Buddhist monk arranged a boxing match between the child and an experienced boxer. Each time the fighter struck the boy, he fell down, but at once the boy stood up; and each time a punch knocked him down again, then the boy stood up again. Several times later, the Buddhist monk asked, “What do you think of your child?”

“What a shame!” The boy's father said. “I never thought he would be so easily knocked down. I needn't have him left here any longer.”

“I'm sorry that that's all you see. Don't you see that each time he falls down, he stands up again instead of crying? That's the kind of courage you wanted him to have.”

If each time you are knocked down you have the courage to stand up again, then you can be proud of yourself.

The courage of life is often a less dramatic spectacle than the courage of a final moment; but it is no less a magnificent mixture of triumph and tragedy. A man does what he must----in spite of personal consequences， in spite of obstacles and dangers and pressures----and that is the basis of all human morality. To be courageous…requires no exceptional qualifications， no magic formula， no special combination of time， place and circumstance. It is an opportunity that sooner or later is presented to us all. Politics merely furnishes one arena which imposes special tests of courage. In whatever arena of life one may meet the challenge of courage， whatever may be the sacrifices he faces if he follows his conscience----the loss of his friends， his fortune， his contentment， even the esteem of his fellow men----each man must decide for himself the course he will follow. The stories of past courage can define that ingredient----they can teach， they can offer hope， they can provide inspiration. But they cannot supply courage itself. For this each man must look into his own soul.