I recently listened to this very dramatic story about the Ukrainian EuroMaidan Uprising and the Revolution of Dignity, which took place in Kyiv between November 2013 and February 2014.  The narrator dramatically describes how time seemed to stand still as a series of events prompted many frustrated Ukrainian students to set up a semi-permanent protest camp in front of the Ukrainian national capitol campus in Kyiv, how President Viktor Yanukovych responds with police brutality, which incurs more frustration across a broader spectrum of citizens, eventually resulting in a riot and massacre crisis in February 2014.  As the narrator described the mood of “beyond fear” that dominated the emotions of the protesters, I realized that courage does not mean simply acting boldly when you feel strong and invincible, rather, courage means continuing to to whatever you need to do, knowing full well that you are likely to be injured or killed even before you are able to accomplish whatever it is you must try to do.  Courage is part in parcel with a willingness to sacrifice one’s immediate comfort and well-being for a greater cause (even if the sacrifice is futile).  

As a biblical analogy, think about the story of David and Goliath.  If David had been carrying a powerful modern assault rifle when he stepped forth to confront Goliath, he would perhaps have felt somewhat invincible, and, while stepping up to assassinate Goliath may have seemed heroic to the helpless bystanders, David would not be any more courageous in this situation than a grandmother swatting mosquitoes in her own bedroom.  

But in fact, all David was carrying were three round stones and a stone-throwing sling made of string and leather.  When he stepped forward to confront Goliath, he must have known that he had an almost negligible chance of stopping Goliath before Goliath smashed him to the ground with his huge club.  Yet David stepped forward anyway, because he knew if he didn’t, Goliath would maim or kill everyone that was important to David, and even if David himself were spared physically, if he didn’t step forward now, a terrible sense of guilt would remain with him for the rest of his days.  So he had to step forward, even though he knew he would probably be killed.  Because of his religious faith, David also knew that physical death would not be spiritual death, so he was truly “beyond fear.”  

As I listened to the stories of the Ukrainian and Polish “Dignity Warriors,” I thought of the the line from our National Anthem asking whether the star spangled banner still flies over the “land of the free and the home of the brave.”  America may still be the land of the free, but as for the “home of the brave”, it pales compared to Eastern Europe. 

I also recently listened to this lecture about “fragility” and “antifragility”, which explains how stressful events can help increase the vitality and strength of living organisms and other organic systems.  For example, athletes can build physical strength and endurance through “working out.”  Similarly, wild fish that swim freely in the ocean will generally be stronger and healthier than fish raised in a net pen.  In the wild, the stronger fish tend to get stronger while the weaker fish are more likely to die before completing a full life cycle.  Whereas, for fish sheltered in a net pen, the “free lunches” and the calmer, less stressful conditions inside the pen allow the weaker fish to survive and the stronger fish to “coast” along without developing their full physiological potential. Of course, none of these pen-raised fish will survive to complete a full life cycle, because they will all be slaughtered for human consumption.  

In humans, there is a psychological syndrome called “post traumatic stress disorder,” which describes a range of persistent troubling and painful symptoms that may arise after someone with a fragile psyche experiences shocking or stressful events.  On the other hand, there is a concept of “post traumatic growth,” which describes the increased levels of mental resilience and self confidence that someone with an “antifragile” psyche may develop when they experience a “healthy diet” of stressful events.  Such mental resilience and self confidence are cornerstones of a mindset that can respond courageously to adversity.  But it is important to keep in mind, such resilience and confidence is not based on a belief that “justice will prevail” and there will eventually be a “happy ending” or some similar fairytale. On the contrary, to a certain extent, developing mental resilience requires a person to come to terms with “death” and “mortality”. For some people, religious faith may be an important ingredient in their personal formula for resilience.

In my view, Americans in general seem to live in relatively sheltered environs.  As a result, we may tend to be more fragile than people native to many other parts of the world.  One of RAYA’s objectives is to nudge American youth into less sheltered conditions where they may gradually absorb a more “healthy diet” of stress challenges, so they can eventually benefit from a virtuous cycle of “post traumatic growth” throughout their lifetimes, rather than being knocked into a tailspin of “post traumatic stress disorder” the first time they bump up against a real life-and-death situation.