Having volunteered to give a Chapel talk on Courage, I thought I should start by making sure I understood what courage actually is. Initially I thought courage and bravery were the same thing but through a little research I was quickly corrected. Courage and bravery are different. A simple way to show the difference between the two is to consider the element of fear. Bravery is acting without any fear, whereas courage requires taking the right actions despite the fear.

Courage is certainly a personal attribute that is instilled by College life. As we walk around the school, the entrance to Chapel, the plaques next to where you are sitting right now, we are surrounded by the names of our predecessors who overcame their fear on the battlefields to fight for what they believed was right. As direct result of their courage, the world is now, for us, a very different place, a place that still demands courage, though often in less obvious ways. We can show courage in our sport matches by not allowing our opposition to rattle us, whatever the score. We keep pushing to gain possession even when we worry about potential injury as a result. We can show courage through public speaking, taking part in a school play or presenting in a society.

It is these more subtle acts of everyday courage I want you to think about today. The ones that take place all around us which are not necessarily newsworthy and you may not even notice. But what may take a huge amount of courage for one person may be something you do every day. For example, public speaking, for some it comes naturally, indeed, for Dr Dunning and Dr Samuel it is practically part of their daily routine but for others, such as myself, it takes a lot more courage.

So, can we improve upon our natural levels of courage? Is it a trainable skill, or are we born with a certain level of courage? Firstly, it is possible to build and improve courage by facing your fears, by stepping out of your comfort zone and by trying new things. What if we didn’t have to wait for that huge newsworthy crisis to act courageously? What if we made courage a conscious choice?

To do this all you need to do is recognise the opportunity; identify a moment of fear. I’m sure you can all imagine a time you will feel nerves or fear. Use that as an opportunity to be courageous, to not back down, to persevere. Sometimes these moments may come naturally and other times, you may choose to put yourself in a position where you will have to act with courage. For example, signing up for a Chapel talk, or singing a solo in the school play.

Secondly, to build courage you need to be able to recognise the opportunity and then you need to be comfortable being uncomfortable. It’s not going to feel nice in the moment, but this all helps you build up courage. My last tip on how to improve your natural levels of courage is simply to change your perspective. For example, rather than focusing on the worst possible outcome, as I tend to do, ask yourself ‘what’s the best that can happen?’ instead!

Sometimes, you build courage by failing and then getting back up again. Remember, as I mentioned at the beginning, courage is not about never failing, it’s about always getting back up and not stopping. It’s about resilience, determination, and perseverance.

Finally, I wish to quote Winston Churchill, who took part in the British Army’s last major cavalry charge, served on the North West frontier in India and escaped from a prisoner of war camp in South Africa. I am sure we can all agree he is qualified to talk on the topic of courage. He said: ‘Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.’