It was very sad to hear news of the death of
one of my childhood heroes and favourite boxer, Smokin’ Joe
Frazier. As an average height, average weight male I was
always amazed that Joe Frazier was the same height and only 10
kilos heavier in his prime, yet he managed to be a world
heavyweight champion. A heavyweight who managed to punch above his
weight!
I can still remember as a youth seeing life
size pictures of Muhammad Ali’s fists, holding mine against the
image, and trying to imagine what it would be like to be clobbered
by such super-human hands. The idea someone my size was about
to take on and beat those fists was incredible.
Most of the sporting tributes have lauded his
courage and stamina, which made so many of his biggest fights real
sporting history. Courage is an important quality but tricky
to instil. We need to start with a clear view of what courage
means, but often it is easier to say what it isn’t. Courage
is not about fearlessness or taking stupid risks. It is not the
absence of fear, but rather the judgement that something else is
more important than fear.
There is a view that courage is an
old-fashioned virtue, discouraged in an age where we ring for help
rather than sorting out a problem directly.
It is possible to teach people to assess risk
(though it usually means exposing people to risk as part of the
learning process) and this comes more naturally in areas of the
College like outdoor education or performance-based courses that
involve the possibility of defeat or shame.
We also help people develop strong values and
promote the College’s values strongly too. If people have a
strong value system that finds things like discrimination and
bullying offensive they are more likely to show courage in tackling
it when they see it, despite any personal risk. Courage goes
alongside having values.
The risks are not always physical either, they
can be about the fear of losing face in front of others. As
that great philosopher Professor Dumbledore explained to Harry
Potter:
“It takes a great deal of bravery to stand up
to your enemies, but a great deal more to stand up to your
friends”!
