Is it possible to overcome cowardice? What it is

What consequences can cowardice lead to?

Fear... This concept is familiar to each of us. All people tend to be afraid; it is a natural feeling. However, sometimes fear develops into cowardice - mental weakness, inability to take decisive action. This quality can lead to negative consequences: both moral and physical suffering, even death.

The theme of cowardice is revealed in many works of art, for example in M.A. Bulgakov’s novel “The Master and Margarita.” The author shows how the wandering philosopher Yeshua Ha-Nozri was brought to the procurator of Judea Pontius Pilate. Pilate understood that the man standing before him was innocent, and would like to free him. Invested with the power to execute and pardon, the procurator could do this, but he sentenced the accused to death. Why did he do this? He was driven by fear, and he himself admitted it: “Do you believe, unfortunate one, that the Roman procurator will release the man who said what you said? Oh gods, gods! Or do you think I’m ready to take your place?” The procurator showed cowardice and condemned an innocent man to death. He could still fix everything at the last moment, because one of the criminals sentenced to execution could be released. However, the procurator did not do this either. What were the consequences of cowardice? The result was the execution of Yeshua and eternal torment of conscience for Pontius Pilate. We can come to the conclusion that cowardice can result in tragic consequences both for the person who showed this quality and for other people who become victims of his fear.

Another example in support of this idea can be the story “Sotnikov” by V. Bykov. It talks about two partisans who were captured. One of them, Rybak, shows cowardice - he is so afraid of death that he forgets about his duty as a defender of the Fatherland and thinks only about saving himself at any cost. Cowardice pushes him to terrible actions: he was ready to give away the location of the partisan detachment, agreed to serve in the police and even took part in the execution of his comrade, Sotnikov. The writer shows what consequences this led to: Sotnikov died at the hands of Rybak, and at some point he realized that he no longer had a way back after this act. He signed his own death sentence. It is obvious that cowardice resulted in physical death for a worthy person and moral death for a coward.

In conclusion, we can conclude: cowardice never leads to anything good; on the contrary, it has the most tragic consequences. No wonder through the mouth of his hero Bulgakov said: “Cowardice is undoubtedly one of the most terrible vices.”

Is it possible to overcome cowardice in yourself?

Each of us is familiar with the feeling of fear. And sometimes it becomes an obstacle on our path in life, developing into cowardice, mental weakness, paralyzing the will and preventing us from living peacefully. Is it possible to overcome this negative quality in yourself and learn courage? In my opinion, nothing is impossible. The main thing is to take the first step. Moreover, this is possible not only for an adult, but also for a child. To support my idea, I will give several examples.

Thus, in V.P. Aksenov’s story “Breakfasts in 1943,” the author shows a little boy who was terrorized by older and stronger classmates. They took away from him, and from the entire class, the buns that were given at school, however, not only buns, but also any things they liked. For a long time, the hero meekly and resignedly parted with his things. He lacked the courage to confront his offenders. However, in the end, the hero found the strength to overcome cowardice and fight back against the bullies. And despite the fact that they were physically stronger and, of course, beat him, he was determined not to give up and to continue to defend his breakfasts and, most importantly, his dignity: “Come what may. Let them beat me, I will do it every day.” We can come to the conclusion that a person is able to overcome cowardice in himself and fight what inspires him with fear.

Another example would be Y. Kazakov’s story “Quiet Morning.” Two young heroes went fishing. Suddenly a disaster happened: one of them fell into the river and began to drown. His friend Yashka got scared and, leaving his friend, ran away. He showed cowardice. However, a few moments later he came to his senses, realizing that no one could help Volodya except himself. And then Yashka returned and, overcoming his fear, dived into the water. He managed to save Volodya. We see that even in such an extreme situation a person can overcome cowardice and commit a courageous act.

To summarize what has been said, I would like to urge all people to fight their fears and not allow cowardice to get the better of us. After all, truly brave people are not those who are not afraid of anything, but those who overcome their weakness.

What action can be called courageous?

A brave act... This can be called a variety of actions of people, be it a parachute jump or climbing Everest. Courage always involves risk and danger. However, in my opinion, the motive of the action is very important: whether a person does something for the sake of his own self-affirmation or for the sake of helping others. From my point of view, a truly courageous act is one committed at the risk of one’s life for the benefit of other people. I will illustrate what has been said with examples.

Thus, V. Bogomolov’s story “The Flight of the Swallow” describes the feat of brave rivermen who transported ammunition from one bank of the Volga to the other under enemy fire. When a mine hit the barge and a fire started, they could not help but understand that the boxes with shells could explode at any second. However, despite the mortal danger, they did not rush to save their lives, but began to put out the fire. The ammunition was delivered ashore. The author shows the courage of people who, without thinking about themselves, risked their lives to fulfill their duty. They did it for their homeland, for victory, and therefore for everyone. That is why their action can be called courageous.

Cowardice is a person’s reaction to fear, expressed in the inability or unwillingness to perform any proper actions (actions); mental weakness.

Alexander the Great noticed among his soldiers a man named Alexander, who constantly fled during battles. And he said to him: “I ask you, either overcome cowardice, or change your name, so that the similarity of our names does not mislead anyone.”

The inability or unwillingness to cope with fear or any phobia becomes the driving force of cowardice. Bravery is trained cowardice. When a person, in a moment of danger, “thinks” only with his feet, ignoring the voice of conscience and reason, it means that we are faced with cowardice. She always makes a choice in favor of a comfortable, safe present in comparison with an unpredictable and uncertain future.

Instead of solving the problem, the coward hides from it. At the instigation of Pliny the Elder, a legend came to us from Ancient Rome about ostriches supposedly hiding their heads in the sand out of fear: “Ostriches imagine that when they stick their heads and necks into the ground, their whole body seems hidden.” It is curious that this misconception still persists in the minds of citizens. The ostrich is a bird that actively defends itself when in danger. The ostrich has long, very strong two-toed legs, perfectly adapted for running and protection from enemies. The ostrich bends down to the ground to eat and swallow sand and small pebbles. Many birds do this - after all, they do not have teeth, they are replaced by a muscular stomach with hard walls, so the ostrich has to swallow stones to make it easier to digest its lunch.

Various entertainment events help to hide from the fear of solving life's problems and cowardice. Behind the screen of feasts, sexual promiscuity, or simply hobbies of cinema and sports, cowardice avoids resolving unpleasant situations, accumulating them more and more. Cowardice reaches out to laughing friends, cheerful, vigorous people, trying to find in them at least psychological support. She involuntarily realized the truth - funny things are not dangerous, and, defending herself from fear, she acquired a tendency to laugh and giggle.

Cowardice should not be identified with caution, moderation, gradualism or prudence. A coward, faced with uncertainty, does not want to take risks; he is a slave to fear. At the same time, he is fully aware of the groundlessness of his fears. But when a person, seeing an aggressive drunk company, avoids communication and eye contact with her, of course, this is a reasonable precaution. If he is doing spearfishing for the first time, then it is wise to familiarize himself with the rules of behavior under water.

When cowardice becomes a manifest quality of a person, it is natural that it rejects its opposites - courage, boldness, courage and selflessness. At the same time, it easily transforms into timidity, fearfulness, timidity and apprehension.

An inexplicable phenomenon, uncertainty and associated risks always cause a certain fear in any person. Only the insane are not afraid. Everyone experiences fear. Cowards die many times. However, a courageous person overcomes fear by force of will, forcing himself to fulfill his duties and duty. In cowardice, the muscles of the mind are atrophied, willpower is suppressed by fear, and conscience is silent. When the fatal moments come, she does what is due only under external coercion, “under pressure.” F. M. Dostoevsky wrote: “A coward is one who is afraid and runs; and whoever is afraid and does not run is not a coward.”

Everything in the world is relative. Who is better, an undisciplined brave man or a disciplined coward? V. Tarasov writes in “Principles of Life”: “The brave man does not advance alone, the coward does not retreat alone. One warrior, unable to withstand the stress of the upcoming battle, ran up to the enemy positions, cut off two heads, and returned with them. But the commander ordered to add the hero’s head to these two. Because there was no order to attack. These three heads in a row are a symbol of the prohibition of attacking without an order. The brave do not advance alone. Discipline cannot be maintained if the brave advance without orders. Here are the soldiers sitting in the trench. They are looking forward to the start of the battle. The brave man got up and, without waiting for an order, went on the offensive. Behind him is another, a third, and the whole company. Only a coward remained in the trench. He alone is disciplined and awaits orders. But there is no order, since everyone has already left. How to evaluate the behavior of a coward? Like discipline, and reward! Or as cowardice, and punished? What if a year has passed and he still sits and waits for orders? If every thing is in its place, every person is where he should be, and does what he should do - this is order. If order is violated, then we can say who is the violator and what was violated - this is disorder. If order is disrupted, but it is impossible to say who exactly is to blame and what exactly he violated, this is disorganization. Disorganization is worse than disorder. With it, fear and fearlessness change places. It's scary to keep order. And it’s not scary to break it. That's what disorganization is. When a coward retreats alone, he creates chaos. When a brave man advances alone, he creates disorganization. The path from disorganization to order lies through disorder. First, turn disorganization into disorder. Then punish the person responsible for this new disorder. To bring back the picture of the world when it’s scary to break order, and not scary not to break it.”

That is why, in peacetime conditions, the employer will prefer to hire an executive, disciplined, cowardly official into a large economic structure. An overly independent, proactive, courageous person in emergency circumstances may behave in an unusual manner and risk the system. A coward will play it safe ten thousand times and do what is beneficial to the system.

“To a coward it seems that even the mountains are shaking,” says a Mongolian proverb. Professing the principle “No matter what happens,” cowardice is clogged in the shell of its own egoism, protecting itself from the threats and challenges of the outside world. She is isolated in her loneliness, like Robinson Crusoe on a desert island. The frightened Ego, fearing for its safety, is ready to resort to betrayal and meanness. At all times, cowardice has been and will be the forge of traitors. Cowardice, treason and betrayal are the constant trinity of depravity. When paired with cowardice, many negative personality traits take on an exaggerated appearance: a stupid person becomes an irresponsible, stupid “brake” with paralysis of the mind, a deceitful person turns into a deceiver and slanderer. The catchphrase of the last Russian Emperor Nicholas II, written in his diary on March 2, 1917, on the day of his abdication, became famous: “There is treason, cowardice and deceit all around.”

Cowardice gives rise to cruelty. Through cruelty towards weaker or closer people, she skillfully disguises herself and hides her true essence. The coward throws out all his anger and resentment on the victim. Savage murders, chilling the heart with their cruelty, are often committed under the influence of fear. Fear develops into horror, and the latter into unbridled cruelty. Cowardice deprives a person of reason, and he becomes the embodiment of heartlessness, hard-heartedness and indifference. Helvetius accurately noted: “Cruelty is always the result of fear, weakness and cowardice.”

A person can live his life and never know, because of his cowardice, what he was capable of. The desire for security, fear of risks, desire to have a “roof”, refusal to make vital decisions - all this together makes a potentially brave person a pathetic cowardly lion. “Why are you a coward? - Ellie asked, looking in surprise at the huge Leo. - I was born this way. Of course, everyone considers me brave: after all, the lion is the king of beasts! When I roar - and I roar very loudly, you heard - animals and people run out of my way. But if an elephant or a tiger attacked me, I would be scared, honestly! It’s good that no one knows what a coward I am,” said Lev, wiping away tears with the fluffy tip of his tail. “I’m very ashamed, but I can’t change myself...”

Final essay on literature 2018. The topic of the final essay on literature. "Courage and cowardice."

FIPI comment: This direction is based on a comparison of opposite manifestations of the human “I”: readiness for decisive actions and the desire to hide from danger, to avoid resolving difficult, sometimes extreme life situations. The pages of many literary works present both heroes capable of bold actions and characters demonstrating weakness of spirit and lack of will.

1. Courage and cowardice as abstract concepts and properties of a person (in the broad sense). Within this section, you can reflect on the following topics: Courage and cowardice as personality traits, as two sides of the same coin. Courage/cowardice as personality traits determined by reflexes. True and false courage/cowardice. Courage as a manifestation of excessive self-confidence. Courage and risk taking. Courage/cowardice and self-confidence. The connection between cowardice and selfishness. The difference between rational fear and cowardice. The connection between courage and philanthropy, philanthropy, etc.

2. Courage/cowardice in minds, souls, characters. In this section, you can reflect on the concepts of willpower, fortitude, the ability to say no, the courage to stand up for your ideals, the courage needed to stand up for what you believe in. You can also talk about cowardice, as the inability to defend one’s ideals and principles. Courage or cowardice when making decisions. Courage and cowardice when accepting something new. Courage and cowardice when trying to leave your comfort zone. The courage to admit the truth or admit your mistakes. The influence of courage and cowardice on the formation of personality. Contrasting two types of people.

3. Courage/cowardice in life. Pettiness, inability to show courage in a specific life situation.

4. Courage/cowardice in war and in extreme conditions. War exposes the most basic human fears. In war, a person is able to display previously unknown character traits. Sometimes a person surprises himself by showing heroism and unprecedented fortitude. And sometimes even good people, contrary to their expectations, show cowardice. The concepts of heroism, feat, as well as desertion, betrayal, etc. are associated with courage/cowardice within this section.

5. Courage and cowardice in love.

COURAGE– a positive moral-volitional personality trait, manifested as determination, fearlessness, courage when performing actions associated with risk and danger. Courage allows a person to overcome, through volitional efforts, the fear of something unknown, complex, new and achieve success in achieving a goal. It is not for nothing that this quality is highly revered by the people: “God controls the brave,” “The city takes courage.” It is also revered as the ability to speak the truth (“Dare to have your own judgment”). Courage allows you to face the “truth” and objectively assess your capabilities, not be afraid of darkness, loneliness, water, heights and other difficulties and obstacles. Courage provides a person with a sense of self-worth, a sense of responsibility, security, and reliability of life.

Synonyms: courage, determination, courage, heroism, enterprise, self-reliance, self-confidence, energy; presence, uplifting spirit; spirit, courage, desire (to tell the truth), audacity, boldness; fearlessness, fearlessness, fearlessness, fearlessness; fearlessness, determination, daring, heroism, courage, riskiness, desperation, audacity, innovation, daring, audacity, audacity, daring, poverty, valor, novelty, courage, masculinity.

COWARDLY - one of the expressions of cowardice; a negative, moral quality that characterizes the behavior of a person who is unable to perform actions that meet moral requirements (or, conversely, refrain from immoral actions) due to the inability to overcome fear of natural or social forces. T. can be a manifestation of calculating selfishness, when it is based on fears of incurring unfavorable consequences, someone’s anger, fear of losing existing benefits or social position. It can also be subconscious, a manifestation of spontaneous fear of unknown phenomena, unknown and uncontrollable social and natural laws. In both cases, T. is not just an individual property of the psyche of a particular person, but a social phenomenon. It is associated either with selfishness, rooted in the psychology of people over the centuries-old history of private property, or with the powerlessness and depressed position of a person generated by a state of alienation (even fear of natural phenomena develops into T. only under certain conditions of social life and the corresponding upbringing of a person). Communist morality condemns terrorism because it leads to immoral actions: dishonesty, opportunism, unprincipledness, deprives a person of the ability to be a fighter for a just cause, and entails connivance with evil and injustice. The communist education of the individual and the masses, the involvement of people in active participation in building the society of the future, man's awareness of his place in the world, his purpose and capabilities, and his submission to natural and social laws contribute to the gradual eradication of terrorism from the life of individuals and society as a whole.

Synonyms: timidity, timidity, cowardice, suspiciousness, indecision, hesitation, fear; apprehension, fear, shyness, cowardice, timidity, fearfulness, capitulation, cowardice, cowardice.

Quotes for the final essay 2018 in the direction of “Courage and Cowardice.”

Be bold with the truth

He who dared ate (and mounted a horse)

Courage is the beginning of victory. (Plutarch)

Courage, bordering on recklessness, contains more madness than fortitude. (M. Cervantes)

When you are afraid, act boldly, and you will avoid the worst troubles. (G. Sachs)

To be completely devoid of courage, one must be completely devoid of desires. (Helvetius K.)

It is easier to find people who voluntarily go to death than those who patiently endure pain. (Yu. Caesar)

He who is courageous is brave. (Cicero)

There is no need to confuse courage with arrogance and rudeness: there is nothing more dissimilar both in its source and in its result. (J.J. Rousseau)

Excessive courage is the same vice as excessive timidity. (B. Johnson)

Courage, which is based on prudence, is not called recklessness, but the exploits of a reckless person should rather be attributed to simple luck than to his courage. (M. Cervantes)

In battle those most exposed to danger are those who are most possessed by fear; courage is like a wall. (Sallust)

Courage replaces fortress walls. (Sallust)

To be brave means to consider everything that is scary as distant and everything that inspires courage as close. (Aristotle)

Heroism is an artificial concept, because courage is relative. (F. Bacon)

Others show courage without having it, but there is no person who would demonstrate wit if he were not naturally witty. (J. Halifax)

Real courage rarely comes without stupidity. (F. Bacon)

Ignorance makes people bold, but reflection makes people indecisive. (Thucydides)

Knowing in advance what you want to do gives you courage and ease. (D. Diderot)

It is not for nothing that courage is considered the highest virtue - after all, courage is the key to other positive qualities. (W. Churchill)

Courage is resistance to fear, not the absence of it. (M. Twain)

Happy is he who boldly takes under his protection what he loves. (Ovid)

Creativity requires courage. (A. Matisse)

It takes a lot of courage to bring bad news to people. (R. Branson)

The success of science is a matter of time and courage of mind. (Voltaire)

To use your own reason requires remarkable courage. (E. Burke)

Fear can make a daredevil timid, but it gives courage to the indecisive. (O. Balzac)

A person fears only what he does not know; knowledge conquers all fear. (V. G. Belinsky)

A coward is more dangerous than any other person; he should be feared most of all. (L. Berne)

There is nothing worse than fear itself. (F. Bacon)

Cowardice can never be moral. (M. Gandhi)

A coward only makes threats when he is sure of safety. (I. Goethe)

You can never live happily when you are always trembling with fear. (P. Holbach)

Cowardice is very harmful because it keeps the will from useful actions. (R. Descartes)

We consider a coward to be a coward who allows his friend to be insulted in his presence. (D. Diderot)

Cowardice in its prime turns into cruelty. (G. Ibsen)

He who fearfully worries about losing his life will never rejoice in it. (I. Kant)

The difference between a brave man and a coward is that the first, aware of the danger, does not feel fear, and the second feels fear, not realizing the danger. (V. O. Klyuchevsky)

Cowardice is knowing what you should do and not doing it. (Confucius)

Fear makes the smart stupid and the strong weak. (F. Cooper)

A fearful dog barks more than he bites. (Curtius)

More soldiers always die when fleeing than in battle. (S. Lagerlöf)

Fear is a bad teacher. (Pliny the Younger)

Fear arises due to the powerlessness of the spirit. (B. Spinoza)

Scared - half defeated. (A.V. Suvorov)

Cowards speak most about courage, and scoundrels speak most about nobility. (A.N. Tolstoy)

Cowardice is inertia that prevents us from asserting our freedom and independence in relationships with others. (I. Fichte)

Cowards die many times before death, the brave die only once. (W. Shakespeare)

To be afraid of love is to be afraid of life, and to be afraid of life is to be two-thirds dead. (Bertrand Russell)

Love doesn't go well with fear. (N. Machiavelli)

You cannot love either the one you fear or the one who fears you. (Cicero)

Courage is like love: it needs to be fueled by hope. (N. Bonaparte)

Perfect love casts out fear, because in fear there is torment; he who fears is not perfect in love. (Apostle John)

Ernest Renan

There are forms of human behavior that have always been inherent in a certain part of people and which, no matter how hard you want, cannot be abandoned without disfiguring the very nature of man. We can include cowardice as one of these forms, which to one degree or another is inherent in all healthy people, but in some of them it can stand out especially strongly and therefore cause a negative attitude towards themselves. Of course, cowardice is an unsightly form of behavior and often harmful to the one who demonstrates it. It is believed that being a coward is bad, because such a person is overcome by fear, which either pushes him to stupid actions, or, on the contrary, fetters his actions. But in this article I will not be so categorical in relation to this type of mental weakness, but will look at it more broadly in order to see and show you the positive and even useful sides. It is this approach to this form of behavior and state of mind that has allowed and allows me to help people who turn to me for help with this problem. I hope this article will also help someone in need to take a fresh look at their cowardice so that they can use it to their advantage in cases where it is impossible to become a little bolder.

What is cowardice?

Briefly about what cowardice is. Cowardice is the inability to cope with one's fear, the inability to step over it when necessary. Or we can also say that this is the inability to competently respond to fear. Let's say there is some situation when you can and should act in a certain way in order to solve a problem, task and avoid something or get something, but a person acts differently or does not act at all, because of his cowardice. That is, in essence, he does not behave quite adequately to the current circumstances and therefore deprives himself of certain opportunities or does not solve important problems, thereby only aggravating them. But, it should also be noted that in some situations, cowardly behavior can help a person avoid unnecessary troubles and dangers; it protects him from unnecessary problems. Below I will explain exactly what situations we are talking about.

Attitude towards cowardice

First of all, we will say that cowardice in our society is unreasonably despised, condemned and presented exclusively as weakness. This, I will tell you, is not entirely objective, from the point of view of nature, people’s position in relation to this form of human behavior; it is more cultural, because from childhood we are taught that being a coward is bad. Of course, cowardly people most often do not get along very well in life, so it is difficult to see any positive aspects in their attitude towards it. However, a coward is not necessarily a weak person who never achieves anything because of his cowardly behavior. He can use this model of behavior to avoid various threats, run away from dangers, difficulties, problems, instead of fighting them, for the sake of his survival and well-being. He can even defend his interests in this way. Here you just need to remember that a coward is driven by fear, and this is a very powerful incentive, and if you connect your head to it, you can come up with a lot of profitable combinations as a response to various challenges that life and other people throw at us. Where a brave man may act recklessly, a cowardly man will exercise caution and prudence, and will not expose himself to unnecessary risks. So in some situations cowardly behavior helps, but in others it hinders. The main thing is not just to be afraid of something and, as a result, succumb to the influence of emotions, but to go through various combinations of your actions in response to what causes fear - this is what is important for cowardly people to be able to do. If you're afraid to climb a mountain, go around it. You don’t have to overcome fear - it’s important for you to achieve the desired result.

And the negative attitude towards cowardice is explained by the fact that people do not like those who do not take responsibility for solving some problems themselves, who do not risk their interests, health and even life in the fight against various threats, which means that this will have to be done them, these people. But I don’t want to. You want someone else to be the hero in dangerous and difficult situations, and you just benefit from it. Therefore, bold, but dangerous, risky behavior is approved, and more cautious and cautious behavior, perceived as cowardly, is condemned. This is an unconscious moment in most cases in people’s attitude towards cowardice; it is associated with the selfish interests of a person who wants someone else to solve various problems for him and sacrifice something. For example, if you throw yourself under a tank with a bunch of grenades, you are a hero, a brave person, you, or rather your behavior, are praised. Why? Because you did it, you sacrificed your life for the sake of other people, which means they won’t have to do this - give up their lives. But a coward will not do this - he will save himself. This means someone else will have to do it for him - sacrifice his life for the sake of others. Naturally, no one wants to do this, so cowardly people are shown in a negative light. Such, so to speak, are the selfish interests at stake in our matter of condemning cowardice. It's all about our selfishness.

You may ask how it is that people can praise courage in others, for the sake of their own selfish interests, without realizing it, if almost every person wants to be seen as a brave, strong, courageous person. Here, friends, we must distinguish between people’s desire to look brave, strong, courageous and their ability to be so. Of course, there are and always have been people who act boldly, take risks, show bravery and courage, and for this they receive a certain reward, and with it recognition and respect from other people. But courage does not always lead a person to victory, much more often cunning leads to it. It is not courage, I believe, but the cunning of the city that takes over. And then, when a person comes to a certain success, achieves something, he begins to compose beautiful legends about himself, presenting himself in the most favorable light. This is often done by cowards who, with the help of cunning and deceit, were able to succeed in something, to come to something, for example, to power. Or a person can present himself as a hero, although in fact he is not one, but since it is not possible to prove the opposite, he can tell a lot of good things about himself. For example, while some were throwing themselves under bullets and tanks, others were holed up in headquarters, resting in hospitals, and then, when everything had calmed down, they began telling stories about how brave and courageous they were and how many heroic deeds they had committed. Here it is not truth that plays an important role, but eloquence and the ability to lie smoothly. So, wanting to be brave and courageous and being so are completely different things. And that’s why most people want to look brave, but let others carry the chestnuts from the fire.

There is another reason for people’s negative attitude towards cowardice - it is their own cowardice, which prevents them from defending their interests. After all, in other people we often despise what we hate in ourselves. And our own weakness is especially unpleasant for us; we feel a genetic aversion to it. Although, those other people may not worry at all about the problems that bother us and that we see in them. Roughly speaking, if you are a coward and you feel bad because of this, this does not mean at all that another coward feels as bad as you. He may be happy with everything and he doesn’t want to become bolder; he has already learned to solve his problems well. You can despise him, seeing your reflection in him, but this will be exclusively your position, your vision of another person.

There is nothing to say at all about beliefs that may not have real confirmation in life. A person can be convinced of anything, this is his weakness and strength. If you have been taught since childhood that being a coward is bad, then you need to look for something good, useful, and necessary in it, in cowardice, as I do in this article, in order to form your own attitude towards it. Then an understanding may come that, yes, being a coward is bad in some situations. But there are also situations when you need or have to be a coward. After all, for example, if you are accused of cowardice because you do not want to jump from a bridge into the river, although others have done it, and you don’t even know how to swim, then honestly, you are better off admitting your cowardice than trying it refute by choosing to do what you are called to do. You don't need such courage. Remember how I once did this - in this life there is effective and ineffective behavior, one leads to victories and success, the other to defeats and failures. And whether it is brave or cowardly, right or wrong, good or bad, from someone’s point of view, these are less significant factors for assessing it.

Courage and cowardice

The above, of course, does not mean that cowardice is useful and necessary, and that one should put up with it without trying to become more courageous. It’s just that those who suffer because of it need to understand that with it they can achieve their goals. And when people come to me with such a problem, when they complain about their cowardly behavior that prevents them from living a normal life, I always look at their capabilities, at their life experience, at their strengths and weaknesses, before offering them various options for solving this problem. Not all people can simply become brave and courageous, even gradually and even with good guidance and due diligence. I would even say that many cannot do this. Therefore, some need to learn to behave more courageously in some situations, others in others, and for others it is even more convenient to adapt their cowardice to their desires and needs, so that, as mentioned above, they can look for different options for achieving their goals without fighting their cowardice, but using it as motivation and using it to get around the rough edges.

For example, some people cannot behave boldly in conflict situations and, given their mental capabilities, should not do this so as not to aggravate their situation. Because their character does not allow them to be what they ideally should be in conflicts. They will not be able to play a role that is unnatural for them for a long time, they will not be able to respond blow to blow. Therefore, in order not to break themselves and not waste a lot of time on mastering the role of a brave, arrogant, strong, and, when necessary, aggressive person that does not suit them, it is easier for them to resort to various kinds of tricks and with their help achieve their goals. Therefore, I never tried to make everyone I helped cope with cowardice, so to speak, cool, because everyone cannot be cool. But everyone can become more effective, successful, and practical. And if you, being a coward, nevertheless achieve your goals, then why should you worry about it, just do what you can do and receive a certain reward for it. The main thing is not to become limp, not to be inactive. Cowardice must be complemented by flexibility of mind so as not to lose because of it.

Of course, in the long term, any person can be changed beyond recognition by working with him competently, persistently, and individually. But we must understand that by long term we can consider a very long period. Therefore, it is much wiser to learn first of all to make do with what you already have, even if it is an unsightly cowardice that makes you afraid of everything.

And if we talk about courage, then, undoubtedly, it often brings benefits to the one who shows it, compared to cowardice. But we must understand that courage and cowardice are different sides of the same coin. Being brave always and everywhere is also bad; you can fly great in those situations in which bold behavior is inappropriate in vain. Therefore, here it is more about a person’s assessment of this or that threat, danger, risk, and not about the behavior model. Simply being bold, without taking into account external factors and one’s capabilities, means being reckless. Thus, it turns out that one extreme forces people to be afraid of everything, and the other, not to be afraid of anything, which can lead to a completely unjustified risk and the loss of everything. Consequently, a person who knows how to assess risks, who understands his capabilities and, most importantly, knows how to control his condition, and does not act out of habit, can show cowardice or courage and at the same time benefit from one or another of his decisions. But this is from the point of view of the mind. But from the point of view of emotions and feelings, which most of us are guided by in most cases, human behavior is less controlled and deliberate. In most cases, it is formulaic, based on habits formed over the years. Therefore, I sometimes see that a person is not really a coward, but considers himself one simply because he was once accustomed to behaving the way cowards behave, accustomed to being afraid, although he has nothing to fear, accustomed to retreating, although he may well defend their interests in certain situations. In other words, some people do not understand themselves well enough and therefore have problems with the same cowardice, or with courage if they have it recklessly.

To better understand why people sometimes make mistakes about themselves, let's talk about what makes people cowardly and how this state of soul, mind and body then becomes habitual for them.

What makes people cowardly?

So, what makes people cowardly and how can we then change this behavioral and ideological model of attitude towards life, leading it to a more adequate and effective state? Here, friends, it is necessary to understand that a person always adheres to a pattern of behavior that in most cases allows him to get something or avoid something. To put it simply, a person wants to get pleasure and avoid pain. And he probes the boundaries of his capabilities, the boundaries of what is permitted, with the help of one or another model of behavior. Usually, initially, this is a selfish model of behavior, the manifestation of which is arrogance, aggression, whims, calling on other people to do as the person wants at all costs. And if such arrogant, aggressive, assertive behavior allows him to achieve his goals, then, naturally, he will constantly behave this way until something or someone stops him, making him understand that not everything in this life can be obtained exactly this way.

And in our case we are talking about cowardly behavior, which a person resorts to forcedly. This is because most of his attempts to be bold, courageous and proactive ended in failure. Life and other people punished him for his courage, so he was forced to choose a model of behavior that allows him to avoid pain, fight fear and even get something from this world. Cowardice helps a coward survive. Whether it is adequate or not is another question.

Therefore, if this world somehow broke and suppressed a person, not allowing him to be brave, active, courageous, arrogant, aggressive, then all he can do is be a coward who can somehow protect himself from various threats, even though somehow can achieve its modest goals by adapting to circumstances. Think about it, what else can you do in this case, how to adapt to this world, if not with the help of cowardice? If in a person’s life there was a lot of violence, harshness, pain, suffering, because of which he constantly felt fear, if a person does not have an inner core that does not appear on its own, it needs to be developed, if this person does not have the opportunity to demonstrate courage behavior because it will lead him to death or very serious problems, then what kind of courage can be expected from him? Try, for example, to show courageous behavior in a situation where all those who disagree are put up against the wall and shot, what will you achieve? Heroic death? And who needs it? After all, the main task of a person in this world is to survive, and not die with his head held high.

Therefore, it all depends on how a person’s life developed, how other people treated him, especially those close to him, what he was allowed to do and what he was limited in, whether he experienced violence or not, and so on. Life does not necessarily break cowardly people; it can teach them how to live in certain conditions, when your capabilities are limited, when you cannot fight certain forces. There he gave in, here he gave in, he ran away from it, he didn’t bother with it, here he sacrificed his interests, just so as not to escalate the situation - this is how a coward behaves. He is not a fighter by nature, because he has not developed the skills of a fighter, his character is not tempered, and he does not possess the necessary fighting qualities. More precisely, he possesses the qualities of a fighter, but they are suppressed in him. So a person lives as he knows how, as he is used to living, preferring flight to fight and concession to perseverance. By nature he is not a coward, his life has simply developed in such a way that he simply cannot handle courage, courage, aggressiveness, either physically or morally. As a matter of fact, all healthy people can show cowardice in certain situations. No one in their right mind can be strong and courageous always and everywhere, it is impossible. Sometimes you have to and even need to chicken out in order to avoid some extremely negative consequences or to get something, to succeed in something. For example, wanting to move up the career ladder or in the service, a person needs to be able to adapt to a superior, and not conflict with him.

So basically, aggression and cruelty of people make a person cowardly. Less often, this is influenced by illnesses, when a person feels his physical and spiritual weakness and therefore prefers not to get into trouble and not jump over his head, realizing that this will cost him dearly. And also, suggestions can make a coward out of a person - this is a kind of brainwashing, when, for example, you can intimidate a person with some horror stories, say, of a religious nature, and thus make him fear punishment for certain of his actions. Thus, a person can become cowardly without encountering real violence against himself, but only imagining it.

To help a person take a different path - the path of a brave, strong, self-confident person - you need to gradually accustom him to this new model of behavior, showing him its practicality, effectiveness, efficiency, and most importantly, accessibility for him, so that the person believed that he could live a more courageous life. But first, if a person lives with fears that suppress him, he must be rid of them. To do this, you need to sort out in chronological order all the stages of the formation of his personality in order to see when and how his current, cowardly model of behavior was consolidated and to understand what external factors it became a response to. A person may need to rethink a lot in order not to be afraid of what he is used to being afraid of, he will need to change his attitude towards something, so as not to worry and be nervous, but to something, to some fears, he More worthy answers will need to be found.

For example, a cowardly person may avoid making bold decisions in situations that actually do not threaten him in any way, and therefore the courage and determination shown in them is a nut to crack at this particular moment. But he doesn’t understand this, so he prefers to stick to his usual behavior, that is, cowardly, timid and in this particular case absolutely senseless, because he is a chronic coward who sees danger even in his own shadow. To understand what capabilities he has, what determination he can show and, through bold actions, go beyond the boundaries of his usual behavior, a person needs someone from the outside who will push him to decisive action, who, if necessary, will force him to be bold at the right moment. And when, thanks to this outside help, he takes the necessary actions and sees that nothing terrible happened, but on the contrary, everything turned out very well for him - he won, achieved success, due to the courage shown, then this will be his first step on a new path - the path of a brave man. Having made several such steps, necessarily successful, he will consolidate the new model of behavior in his mind and then be able to develop it, showing courage in those cases when it is appropriate, when it is in his power.

There is another important point in this matter. Some people may be afraid of what they do all the time, only under duress, when someone forces them to step over their fear and do a bold, courageous act. That is, they are brave only when there is another person next to them, usually strong, courageous, confident, smart, who supports and guides them, or simply forces them to do something. As a result, they are brave not on their own, but because of someone. It is also necessary to get rid of such dependence, otherwise cowardice cannot be completely overcome. Therefore, it is necessary to ensure that a person is courageous on his own initiative, presenting him with a choice: to show courage or to be cowardly in a certain situation. Of course, these specific situations must be such that a person is able to act in them boldly and independently, without needing outside help and support. Then he will become more independent in this matter.

It should be noted that life constantly poses such a choice to each of us. Only situations in which it spontaneously arises do not always allow us to make bold decisions and perform strong actions in order to consolidate the appropriate model of behavior. That is why some people receive life experiences that allow them to be bold, courageous, proactive and self-confident, while others are forced to become cowards and act from the position of a weak person. Try, friends, to show courage more often, identifying situations in which it is appropriate and necessary. It is more useful than cowardice. Brave people achieve more in this life than cowardly people. But don’t forget that being a coward is also useful when the fear that forces you to give in and retreat signals a really serious danger to which you need to react in this way.

What does cowardice lead to? Direction: Loyalty and Cowardice (2017)

What does cowardice lead to? Unfortunately, it only leads to dishonest, base actions. Everyone experiences fear at different points in their lives, but you need to be able to overcome it. And to do this, you need to understand the cause of your fear and its consequences. A cowardly, cowardly person himself does not know how he will behave in a particular situation, much less other people. You cannot rely on such a person. Because of cowardice, he can resort to meanness and betrayal. Very often we don’t even know if we are cowards? But any unusual dangerous situation confronts us with a choice: to do a brave thing or to be a coward. But, even if you chickened out in some life situation, by realizing this, a lot can be corrected. I’ll try to remember works of art where characters experience fear and show cowardice.

We encounter an example of cowardice in the story of the modern writer Lyudmila Ulitskaya “Daughter of Bukhara.” The young captain Dmitry, returning from the war, brought the “beauty” from the East, Bukhara, to the house of his father-doctor. She gave birth to his daughter Mila. The child turned out to be sick. Bukhara decides to leave the girl and devotes his life to her. And Dmitry leaves the family, unable to withstand the test, trying to avoid unpleasant rumors from people. He showed cowardice. Who are we to judge him? A more terrible judgment awaits him - the court of conscience.

But the other hero, who is also afraid to leave his post, is afraid of the punishment that will inevitably follow. This is the hero of N.S. Leskov’s story “On the Clock” by Postnikov. He stands guard, and before his eyes a man drowns. Postnikov is tormented, he is waiting for the heartbreaking cries for help to stop. He doesn't know what to do. As a human being, he wants to help, but fear of the regulations holds him back. We feel how unbearable this struggle is. The man wins, Postnikov throws himself onto the ice and, risking his life, saves the drowning man. He conquered his fear. Now it doesn’t matter to him that he will be punished and how. He did the most important thing: he saved a man. And this is stronger than the fear of punishment. The hero feels relieved because his conscience is clear. What would happen to him if he fulfilled his official duty, but did not fulfill his human one?

Thus, cowardice leads to low, vile actions, for which you will be ashamed all your life. A cowardly person is dangerous because you don’t know what to expect from him in difficult times, or how he will behave. Therefore, of course, we must fight cowardice, we must defeat it within ourselves. So that in a moment of difficult choice she does not win.