Real courage

Great little article by Matthew Syed - perhaps commentators & pundits should be reminded of this when defining events in the sporting arena

As of yesterday morning, we knew him only as Lukasz, the man who took five knife wounds to his left side as he fought off the London Bridge attacker with no consideration of personal upside, long-term or otherwise. This was sacrifice of the kind that the term was originally coined to encompass; the kind of sacrifice that we commemorated a few weeks ago on the second Sunday of November.

What about the term courage? How often do we misuse this word when discussing a footballer nailing a penalty or a darts player a double? Courage implies moral virtue, a willingness to encompass risk on behalf of another, as Lukasz did, hearing screams up above, determining to give assistance, witnessing scenes of carnage that defy adequate description but holding back any temptation to blanche. Don't we need to reset? At the very least, don't we need to recognise that by eulogising celebrity, fame and synthetic success, we overlook many of the people who matter most?