On Courage and Cowardice

The start of a new chapter

昔々、I was in a Karate Kyokushin tournament. I was acting as coach to the different competitors. When we got to rhe adult division, a couple of them got injured and lost by TKO. It was a very intense tournament with many high caliber fighters from different organizations and karate styles.

Then, one student came to me and asked how he could drop out. Seeing two of friends lose in such a definitive way really scared him and didn’t want to compete.

I asked him to at least step on the mat and then, just raise his hand to indicate to judge that he won’t compete.

This moment from several years ago really stayed with me. We are, most of us, training as amateurs and those who compete generally take it more seriously than others.

But was this a good decision. One can empathize with him but, I wonder if this is something that marked him as much as it did me.

The question that keeps popping up in my mind is: was he a coward?

And then, the deluge of other questions:

• Was he ready?

• Did we preparing him properly? Both mentally and physically.

• Was it fear of injury that stopped him or something else?

This event, amongst others that I have experienced since, as a teacher, father and friend, that has led me to think more seriously about courage and cowardice. What could be seen as an act of cowardice by some could be viewed as courageous by others. Where do we draw the line? Are there clear definitions?

This is what I plan to explore in this new subcategory of my substack “On Courage and Cowardice”.

I hope you’ll join in the conversarion and share in your thoughts and experience.