Is There Another Kind?

Today's Marketing Cookie is about fearless courage... or is there another kind?

When I read today's fortune, I paused to think about the meaning of those first two words, "fearless courage." I found myself asking if there was another kind of courage. Just like that scene in the movie "A Few Good Men," when Lt. Daniel Kaffee (played by Tom Cruise) is grilling Col. Nathan R. Jessup (played by Jack Nicholson) on the witness stand.

Kaffee: You gave Kendrick an order, right?

Jessup: I told him to tell his men not to touch Santiago.

Kaffee: Did you give Markinson an order?

Jessup: I ordered him to have Santiago transferred immediately.

Kaffee: Why?

Jessup: His life might be in danger.

Kaffee: Grave danger?

Jessup: Is there another kind?

If there's no other kind of danger, why then would there be another kind of courage?

One summer, I worked for a few months with inner-city kids in a rough section of Philadelphia. I was living with strangers, I was out of my comfort zone, and quite honestly, I was afraid. While my friends back home were probably hanging out at the beach and having fun all summer, I had put myself in a precarious situation to help others. I sometimes saw gangs on the street when I walked to the community center. I heard gunshots a few times when I was walking back to the place where I was living. I was never sure if I might be mugged... or worse.

I was terrified at times, but the kids I was working with every day were well worth the anxiety. So, now I wonder. Would that summer experience still qualify as having courage? If so, I can tell you that I was far from fearless, and in which case, perhaps there is another kind of courage. Can you really call it "courage" without the presence of fear? If "Fearless courage is the foundation of victory," as today's fortune says, what type of victory might you accomplish if you demonstrate courage while being full of fear?