To practice synthesis, read through the
following 5 scenarios, noticing how ideas of irrationality and cowardice are drawn into
the definition of courage. After you read through the scenarios, write a brief
definition of courage which combines, or synthesizes, the reasons listed below the
scenarios.
Is this an examples of courageous
action?
"Tou Lor leads a platoon of guerrilla
fighters on the front lines in a war zone. He and his seven comrades, hungry and thirsty,
with no food and no water, have been pinned down in a ditch for two days by
persistent shooting from an enemy machine-gun bunker. It is midday and the sun beats
down mercilessly; two men who have been hit continually moan and occasionally cry out in
pain. Suddenly, Tou, with a glazed look in his eyes, grabs a hand grenade, screams at the
top of his lungs, leaps out of the ditch, and runs toward the bunker as the bullets kick
up earth around him. He reaches the bunker and throws in the grenade, killing all the
enemy.
