Summary

The article discusses the fine line between courage and stupidity, emphasizing that while both involve taking risks, courage is informed by wisdom and a worthy goal, whereas stupidity often stems from a lack of judgment and awareness of consequences.

Abstract

The author reflects on a quote by Jeremy Goldberg that suggests courage and stupidity can appear similar because both involve actions taken despite potential harm. However, the author argues that true courage is distinguished by its foundation in knowledge, wisdom, and good judgment, which lead to calculated risks for a meaningful purpose. In contrast, stupid actions are characterized by a disregard for or misunderstanding of the potential negative outcomes. The article explores the idea that while fear may be present in both scenarios, the courageous individual acknowledges and weighs the risks against the goal, whereas the stupid action is often impulsive and driven by a desire for approval or thrill-seeking without a worthy objective. The author concludes by encouraging readers to make informed decisions, let wisdom guide their courage, and choose the challenges they face wisely.

Opinions

Courage involves acknowledging potential harm but proceeding with a clear goal and calculated risks, while stupidity is marked by a lack of awareness or good judgment about the consequences.
Stupid actions are often driven by a desire to avoid appearing cowardly or to seek approval, leading to choices that prioritize short-term gains over safety or long-term well-being.
The author initially grapples with the idea that courage might sometimes require stepping out without full knowledge of the outcomes but ultimately reinforces that courage is about making informed decisions with the available data.
The article suggests that the main difference between courageous and stupid actions lies in the value and worthiness of the goal being pursued.
The author invites readers to engage with the topic by sharing their thoughts and encourages living a courageous life guided by wisdom.
A personal anecdote is shared about the discovery of an alternative spelling for 'judgment,' highlighting the author's preference for including the 'e' and playfully demonstrating this choice in the text.

According to This Quote, Courage and Stupidity Often Look Alike. But Do They?

Choose your hard wisely

I saw the quote below on Twitter and it took me a second to get the second part.

Courage is knowing it might hurt, and doing it anyway. Stupidity is the same. And that’s why life is hard. - Jeremy Goldberg

The more I think about it, I’m not sure I totally agree. I get the point, but stupid actions usually result from a lack of awareness or good judgement meaning that the person in question is taking an action because they misjudged or downplayed possible consequences.

I think if they really knew and acknowledged what the courageous person in the same situation knows and acknowledges, they likely wouldn’t do it.

Courage on the other hand is backed by some knowledge, wisdom, experience and good judgement. It goes in eyes wide open, with no delusions and takes calculated risks that may or may not work out.

Some say that when people act stupidly, they feel no fear. I don’t think that’s necessarily true also — they may in some cases be afraid to take said action, but a lack of judgement overrides all sense of caution and they downplay the impact and consequences.

Courage acknowledges the impact, danger and/or consequences, but also weighs the goal against the risk.

A stupid action just like a courageous action may be laced with fear, but the difference is that the courageous person fully acknowledges that fear and determines that the goal they’re working towards is worth the risk.

Usually, in the case of stupid actions, the risks outweigh the goal. The goal, if any, is usually not worth the risk. This brings us back to a lack of judgement.

From an outsider’s perspective, both may sometimes look the same, but

The main difference is the goal

Firefighters running into the fire to save people is courage, someone running into a burning building as a dare to see how quickly they can run through isn’t.

(Yeah, that may be a bit far-fetched, but it’s Friday night …)

Stupidity is not counting the cost and most times is rash and takes ‘not-thinking-heat-of-the-moment’ actions. While Courageous actions could also be spontaneous, it’s usually because the situation calls for quick on-the-spot decisions.

Sandra Bullock and Keanu Reeves in speed were courageous by not slowing down the bus, running red lights, stop signs and whatnot to save the people on the bus. The same dangerous action with no logical goal isn’t.

Courage isn’t just doing something dangerous or frightening for the thrill of it, while stupidity often seeks the thrill, not caring about the consequences.

On the flip side

Yes, I’m thinking this through as I’m writing — the quote is spot on.

Sometimes courage demands not knowing all the possible outcomes/consequences of a move but stepping out in faith anyways —

Okay, Nah I take it back because in this case, the difference is that the courageous person is aware that they have limited data and there may be consequences they’re not aware of but makes a decision to step out in faith anyways because a decision has to be made.

Now I’m going around in circles —

In the end, being courageous is hard and taking ill-advised actions is hard — choose your hard.

Working towards becoming wiser and having good judgement is hard, staying stuck is hard — choose your hard.

Sometimes the line gets blurry or maybe even intertwined

Like in the case of someone who fears looking like a coward so they accept a dare to do something stupid, like jump off a building. They’re terrified because they know it could end badly but do it anyways.

On one hand, they acted cowardly in not wanting to face their fear of rejection and on the other hand they were being courageous? in going for what they wanted, which in this case was approval — but perhaps unwise in choosing approval over staying alive?

I guess they were courageously lacking in good judgement: To be rejected is hard, to fall and break your neck is hard — choose your hard wisely.

My 2 cents + Summary

At the root of stupid actions is either not being aware, or downplaying consequences and risks even if aware, while courage is towards a worthy goal, fully aware, acknowledges the risks, likely afraid but moves ahead anyway.

Make informed decisions, and let your courage be backed by Wisdom.

What type of courage matters most?

I think it‘s the courage to be true to yourself, to stand alone if necessary and not be ‘peer | society | life’ pressured into doing unwise stuff.

Live a Courageous life and let wisdom be your guide.

I would like to know your thoughts on this one. Please leave your thoughts as comments 👇🏾.

PS: I just realized today that Judgment is an acceptable spelling for Judgement. I decided to ask Mrs. Google because Grammarly kept correcting my spelling. I can’t wrap my mind around this one, it feels incomplet — so I’m leaving it as Judgement.

PS (2): See what I did there☝🏾? I left the ‘e’ out at the end of ‘incomplete’ so that ‘incomplet’ is incomplete 😁

Until next time ~ Deola

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