Commentary
Would you appear on a platform next to Salman Rushdie? Inside our heads, I suppose, we’re all heroes. We’d have been anti-Nazi in the 1930s, anti-Communist in the 1970s, anti-slavery in the 1850s, anti-Nero in ancient Rome, anti-Nazgul in Middle Earth, and so forth. But in the real world it takes commitment and courage that isn’t always ready to hand.
Courage is a perennial problem. Aristotle called it first among virtues, because without it we only practise the others when convenient. And while it shouldn’t be any harder to be brave today than 200 years ago or 2,000, as Aristotle also said, habit is second nature. So a failure to practise on small things can leave our bravery flabby or even absent when we need it to be ready aye ready on big ones….