Moral
courage vs. physical courage
There is a big
distinction between moral courage and physical courage.
Most of us have physical courage and are willing to display
that courage at any given time. Physical courage often
brings us personal glory. However, how many of us are
willing to perform acts of moral courage when there is no
personal glory involved? By this, I mean standing up for
one's beliefs, standing up to your friends, relative,
co-workers, and tribal leaders when they are petty,
dishonest, or just plain wrong.
When my business partner and I were writing a proposal
which would develop a work place ethics program, we passed
out a survey that asked people to write down what they
thought were the five most frequent ethical violations on
the reservation. Several people who took time to fill it
out said they could think of more than five. What was
interesting was almost all of them had this comment:
“_________ really should attend this training.
They/he/she really needs it. Not one of them said, “I
would like to take the training…” As the Great
Russian writer, Leo Tolstoy said: "Everyone thinks of changing the
world, but no one thinks of changing
himself”.
Many people who attend the training at first may think,
“I wish so-and-so was here he/she really needs to
hear this. However, our leadership training will require
you to examine, not your co-worker, your neighbor, your
boss, the tribal council’s behavior, but your
behavior. It takes real courage to face our own weaknesses,
and those of our friends and family.
Native
Americans’ view of courage
In all Native
Tribe courage/bravery, whether it was moral or physical,
was essential. Native American Indians honor
courage/bravery. Here is an excerpt Dorreen Yellow
Bird’s column in the Grand Forks Herald "Tradition, ritual at a soldier's funeral"
In the 1870s, a Hidatsa man called Scar
Face went up north with six warriors and ran into a larger
group of enemy Crees. The Crees were behind a wagon and
shooting at them. The Hidatsa man knew it was death for
them all. So he ran low, zig zagging toward the Crees. This
gave the rest of the band a chance to find cover. He was
killed, but the Crees, who usually scalped their enemy,
didn't scalp him. Instead, they brought out a white Hudson
Bay blanket - prized during that time - and laid him on it.
They honored him because he was brave, Mandan said. That is
true of all Indian people: “We honor bravery.”
Throughout
this presentation, we will show example of how courageous
leadership can bring success in areas that had previously
experienced failure.
Click here to read how Sitting Bull
courageous leadership led to victory at the Little Big
Horn.