The Meaning of Bravery

In a news article “Man Strips off and Crawls across frozen river to rescue dog,” published by The Telegraph news website, the term brave has been used to describe a dog walker’s rather risky decision to crawl over a frozen lake to save his dog (“Man strips off and crawls across frozen river to rescue dog”, 2012). The author of the articles implies that the dog walker’s stupid and risky decision was out of his bravery. More specifically, in this article, the word bravery has been used In another article, “Courage: A Modern Look at an Ancient Virtue”, by Zavaliy and Aristodou (2014), braveness has been used to display the act of trying to help a person in a situation of danger. While the man might have been seen as a stupid person putting his life in danger, the media, as well as the bystanders, consider the man’s decision to save his dog despite the huge risk as an act of bravery. According to one of the eyewitnesses, “it really was a foolish act of bravery” and “This was extremely dangerous.” According to the article, the man showed extreme stupidity when he put his life and his dog’s life in danger. In this essay, I will be defining the word bravery as how I perceive and will tie it with the act of displaying courageousness, fearlessness, being a good citizen, being heroic, and positive role model. 

According to the Oxford English Dictionary , bravery is the quality of being brave, which is the possession or the exhibition of courage or the exhibition of courageous endurance. While bravery can adopt different meanings in different contexts, the use of brave or bravery in the Telegraph news article is debatable. The dog walker could have crawled on the frozen river not because of stupidity, but because of acting like responsible citizen. In addition, the dog owner acted out of love and fearlessness. He may also wanted to be a positive role model or become a hero. 

The dog walker could have decided to save the dog because he was a responsible citizen who was willing to stand by his principles irrespective of the potential negative outcomes. While the article presents the dog owner’s actions as an act of stupidity, his decision to help a dog could have been a result of him being a responsible citizen. In this instance, a responsible citizen is a person who is willing to help other people in need, despite the potential risk to his or her life. In the article “Man Strips off and Crawls across frozen river to rescue dog”, the dog walker was willing to save his dog despite the possibility of falling into the river through the thin ice. The rescuers’ act of bravery can also be tied his good citizenship. The dog walker could have been a good citizen with moral principles that dictate that he do anything to save his dog. The dog owner was willing to risk his life to stop an impending accident- these are traits of a responsible citizen and not necessarily a brave person.

The dog owner could have been acting out of courage. Courage is the ability to withstand difficult moments or pain despite the presence of fear. The article, “The Psychology of Courage: Modern Research on an Ancient Virtue”, authored by Craig Gruber, presents the concept of courage as a something with interactional effect on any person (Gruber, 2011). According to Gruber (2011), a courageous person is someone who explores a situation even after examining and determining potential risks to himself or herself upon being exposed. By using bravery to describe the dog walker’s actions, the author implies that the dog owner did not have any fear. Although the owner readily went to help his dog immediately the helpless dog started drowning in the river, it does not necessarily mean that he was not afraid. Although society often considers courageous acts as bravery, the use of the word brave to describe the dog owner does not qualify if the standard definition of bravery is to be considered. Besides, a courageous person can still make unwise decisions that can put his or her life in danger, especially if the person values the pet that needs help. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, fearlessness is a term used to describe the character of being without any fear. A fearless person is instead expected to be brave and unafraid to explore anything. In all instances, fear is the biggest challenge that must be overcome through bravery. The man did not have to overcome fear to be able to crawl on the frozen river and save the dog. While there was the fear of drowning along with the dog, the dog walker had to be courageous enough to be able to overcome the fear of breaking the thin ice and drowning along with his dog before he could put his life in danger. Despite the lack of in-depth information on the potential consequences of tryin g to save the dog, the dog owner took all those risks because he was courageous.

The media plays a significant role in portraying individuals as good role models 1 . Therefore, the media has an important role in showing someone as a brave individual. This is because the media can completely change the context of a story with aim of portraying an individual the way they want. For instance, online dictionaries define bravery as “a quality of spirit that enables you to face danger or pain without showing fear, may be seen as ignorant.” However, it is not known if the man saving his dog did not show any fear at all. There is a possibility that the man was very scared. Despite being scared, the man was still willing to save his dog regardless of the potential consequences that were known to him. This is because the man was still willing to do the right thing. Moreover, some of the bystanders thought that his act was out of ignorance. This can be possible for people who uses this dictionary to think of the dog rescuer this way. Therefore, instead of bravery, the dog walker can be described using the word “selfless”. In the article, “Selflessness & Cognition”, by Lawrence Lengbeyer (2005), the term selflessness is the act of choosing a decision or a path of action without personal consideration. If the dog owner was aware and afraid of the potential repercussions and still chose to save his dog, he might be considered to be selfless and not brave (Rogers, 2014). There is a possibility that the dog owner did not know the dangers of attempting to save his dog by crawling over a frozen river. Therefore, the term bravery might not be the best to describe him. Instead, the dog owner can also be described as naïve. Despite the multiple potential descriptions that the dog walker could have been given, the presentation of the story by The Telegraph gives a portrayal of a positive image to the audience and blurs the public focus of the naivety, selflessness, and stupidity of the protagonist in the media story.

The definition of a hero is an individual who has gained admiration or idolization due to their courage, exceptional achievement, or noble traits. A hero is expected to behave compassion and empathy as in The Telegraph article. The man is considered a hero as he felt the need to help the drowning dog. In another article, “What Makes a Hero? The Impact of Integrity on Admiration and Interpersonal Judgments”, a hero, is defined as a person with high integrity and great personal commitment to ethical behaviors (Schlenker, Weigold, & Schlenker, 2008). A hero is an individual who is willing to sacrifice himself for the greater good, which could be the better good of an individual or something else. A hero is expected to pull off spontaneous acts of kindness, as in the case of the dog owner. While there were many people who witnessed the dog going deep into the river and getting trapped, only the dog owner, the hero, chose to help the dog. In another publication, “Incredible bravery in the face of atrocities” , where three nurses helped victims of the Holocaust in Auschwitz 2 . While their character can be considered to be that of bravely, the three nurses were also heroes. They put their life at stake despite knowing the repercussions of trying to help the Holocaust victims. Just as in the case of the three nurses, the dog walker was a hero who was a hero as his spontaneous act of kindness and courage saved the dog and captured the attention of a public, which was fascinated by the heroic act. Probably, the dog owner risked his life to save the dog because he wanted to be a hero and gain public admiration. Therefore, he might not have ignored the potential risk of his actions due to a lack of fear and being brave. Instead, his urge to become a hero and gain public attention, such as the media coverage, encouraged the dog owner to risk his life and save the dog.

The dog walker’s recklessness could have been as a result of love. If it was not his dog, could he still put his life at stake and save it anyway? According to the Oxford English Dictionary , love is an intense and very strong feeling of liking and caring for somebody or something. There is a possibility that the dog owner was not brave. However, due to the love for his dog, he could not stand the fact that it had fallen into a frozen river and could die. Therefore, out of love and affection that has grown over the years, the dog owner decided to go and rescue his dog, putting his life in danger. Therefore, out of love, the dog owner did something that was easily translated as a stupid act of bravery. If the dog owner did not love its animal, he could have found it difficult to gather the compassion needed to save the dog ( Miller et al., 2011 ). The presentation of the story in the media contributed to the interpretation of the act as an act of bravery. However, the dog owner was not necessarily brave to save the dog; his love for the animal helped him to overcome the fear of the potential risk of crawling on a frozen lake and thus saving his dog. Thus, in some instances, a person is motivated by the love and compassion he or she has towards something or someone.

The dog owner might have felt that he is obliged to save his dog. Depending on society's settings, a person may have self-given obligations to protect his pet. Depending on the societal setting, a dog owner might be expected to save his dog or at least try whenever it is in danger. Therefore, while the media might have presented the dog owner’s actions as acts of bravery, there is a possibility that the dog owner crawled on the frozen lake because he felt like it was his responsibility to do so. The dog owner could have felt that if he did not save the dog, the society would have rebuked him and judged him negatively. Therefore, despite the risks involved in saving the dog, the dog owner had to do it because it was his responsibility. Therefore, although the dog owner might have had the fear and lacked the courage to save the dog, he had to do it because it was his responsibility. 

The dog owner could have felt the pressure of being a positive role model in the community. Role modeling is often gendered in style, reflecting characteristics of heroism and strong moral standards. Role models are an important part of the development of societal identities (Sealy et al., 2008). Role models are supposed to consciously and unconsciously follow the social identities that are considered right (Sealy et al., 2008). Therefore, as a positive role model, the dog owner was required to show a specific identity that would require him to save the dog. Therefore, even if he was not willing to do it, as a role model in a public setting, he was required to make an effort to save his dog.

In the new article “Man Strips off and crawls across frozen river to rescue dog”, by Telegraph, the word brave has been used to portray the dog owner who crawled on a frozen river risking his life to save his dog as a stupid person. However, I define bravery as the ability to face overwhelming incidences or pain without any fear. In this article, it is clear that the dog owner was brave. However, in the context, the author uses it to portray acts of stupidity. Therefore, the use of the word bravery in this context is incorrect. Besides, many other things could have motivated the dog walker. As a responsible citizen, the dog walker felt the need to uphold his principles and save the dog. Alternatively, since the dog owner could have had hints of fear, the word courage should have been used instead of bravery. Also, the need for public attention could have also motivated the dog owner to play a hero. Moreover, there are high chances that the dog walker could not save the dog if it was not his. Therefore, instead of bravery, the dog owner was possibly motivated by the love he had for the dog. The decision by the dog owner to put his life in danger just to save his dog was not necessarily as a result of bravery. The use of bravery in this context is not necessarily correct.

References

Gruber, C. (2011). The psychology of courage: Modern research on an ancient virtue.  Integrative Psychological and Behavioral Science ,  45 (2), 272-279.

Lengbeyer, L. A. (2005). Selflessness & cognition.  Ethical theory and moral practice ,  8 (4), 411-435.

Man strips off and crawls across frozen river to rescue dog. (2012). Retrieved 7 April 2020, from https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/weather/9079236/Man-strips-off-and-crawls-across-frozen-river-to-rescue-dog.html  

Miller, M. L., & Schlenker, B. R. (2011). Integrity and identity: Moral identity differences and preferred interpersonal reactions.  European Journal of Personality ,  25 (1), 2-15.

Rogers, L. S. (2014). Moral Selflessness and the Scholar-Practitioner.  Educational Leadership and Moral Literacy: The Dispositional Aims of Moral Leaders , 181.

Schlenker, B. R., Weigold, M. F., & Schlenker, K. A. (2008). What makes a hero? The impact of integrity on admiration and interpersonal judgment.  Journal of Personality ,  76 (2), 323-355.

Sealy, R., & Singh, V. (2008). The importance of role models in the development of leaders’ professional identities. In  Leadership perspectives  (pp. 208-222). Palgrave Macmillan, London.

Zavaliy, A. G., & Aristidou, M. (2014). Courage: A modern look at an ancient virtue.  Journal of Military Ethics ,  13 (2), 174-189.

1 The media has a huge responsibility of teaching cultural norms and values through stories. They have the responsibility of influencing how positive role models should be defined by the society

2 Auschwitz was a concentration camp made up of more than 40 concentrations camps and extermination camps during the Nazi Germany. People who were found to be helping the Jews would face punishments from Nazi Germany. Therefore, the three nurses were risking a lot to help the victims of Auschwitz.