From the guest post on Jaiya’s blog, I stated that courage was one of the five traits of a warrior…I was wrong. Upon further reflection, fortitude is a deeper trait than courage. If courage was a waterfall, able to take someone or something out in a short instance, not knowing if or when it was coming, fortitude would be a raging flood or a seasonal monsoon, lasting far longer and changing the whole landscape!
Here is what I wrote about courage, and then I will conclude with thoughts on FORTITUDE:
The warrior moves forward into action, heeding the mission and holding out to fear just a little bit longer.
Most people think a warrior is fearless, I do not believe this to be the case, he or she just holds out to fear a little bit longer to allow for the mission to be accomplish and the warrior position to be honored.
After I was ambushed for the first time in my life with RPG’s (rocket propelled grenades) and AK-47 fire I had to set up a secure area for the Marines that were in the assembly area. Running into the first house I ever had to clear in Iraq as a Marine, my heart was pounding in my throat, and my mind and body wanted to double-over in fear.
The mission wasn’t about fear and doubling-over. It was to clear the house and secure the perimeter, so my brothers would not be ambushed again. I held out to fear, and from then on, clearing buildings, finding weapons caches, detaining EPW’s (enemy prisoners of war), and mission accomplishment became easier, taking less courage.
Courage is all about the warrior spirit overcoming the tricks of the mind and body.
Fortitude is a keeping your mind’s eye on the prize, while you stay in the moment completely, moving from task to task, action to action, thought to thought, word to word, performing only what is necessary in that moment of time to create victory. Victory from temptation. Victory in thought. Victory in action. Victory in words. Victory in tasks. Victory in missions. Victory in battle. Ending with final victory in the war. The other traits of Honor, Tirelessness, Selflessness, (and even Courage, the trait replaced by fortitude) are very important to the inner-workings of fortitude.
If you asked the ant, why he constantly kept lugging that big piece of fruit toward his home? He would probably not even respond because you would create a distraction to his mission. But have you seen an army of ants dismantle a whole peach and place it in their home for preparation?
If you asked a Marine why he had to refrain from saying, I, me, my? He would say, because I was told to. If you asked him why he shot thousands of rounds through his rifle, he would say, because I was told to. If you asked him why he was to stay in step with everyone else in marching drills, he would say, because I was told to. If you asked him why he spent so much time training in the field, he would say because I was told to. If you asked him why he went to war, he would say because I was told to.
But…If you asked the Marine why he fights, he would say because he is in it with his brothers and they matter more than I, me and my. If you asked him how he was able to shoot his enemy before his enemy shot him, he would say because he has practiced it thousands of times before. If you asked him why he was able to keep his unit together when they took the hill, he would say it was because that is how we drill it. If you asked him why he was able to accomplish the mission, he would say because we spent so much time training in the field. And if you asked him how he won the war, he would say because I was told to.
That is not only courage, but it is holding on with discipline, guts, and persistence…and at the end of the day, those roll up into one word–Fortitude.
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