A Thought On Bravery

Bravery is entirely subjective. At any point in history, what is considered brave is trendy and unsteady.

Today, a transgender woman came through the door at work and my coworker told me how brave the person is for being true to who they are. I began questioning, was this person brave because they declared them-self to be transgender? If this is true, then I must be brave for declaring myself an anarchist. This is not considered true, however.

So I began to ask why further? It is because it is not socially acceptable to be an anarchist. It only recently became socially acceptable to be transgender. Was this person only saying they are brave because it is socially acceptable at the time to be transgender? Was it socially acceptable for Sir William Wallace to revolt against King Edward I? No. In fact, I seem to remember he was publicly shamed for doing so.

Bravery is in the eye of the beholder and to speak with integrity means to not carelessly label people as brave or recklessly shun people for being brave in their own way. I came to the conclusion you are not brave because you are true to yourself, you are brave because you are true to what people think you should be (a soldier, a participant in the social justice movement, etc.).

Essentially, I say fuck what is socially acceptable and be who you want to be. I'd rather practice compassion.