What Is Courage

A friend sent me this award winning photo of a deer about to be eaten by two tigers. 

That set off a discussion between us.

She felt that the attribute shown by the deer was courage - to give up her life for her children... She must have had terrific courage to have taken that decision. My friend was not comfortable describing the act of the mom as a sacrifice.

I demurred. 

Courage is the raw material required to do (or not do) something. The act itself (what we do) could be called a sacrifice or a suicide or living. And as another friend explained, courage involves an act which is usually uncommon.

Some parents could bring themselves to try to straighten their child out who has a gay orientation no matter how painful it is to both parents and child. Some parents could be more accepting of their child's sexual orientation and face the social flak. Both these acts would probably need courage.

This could be extended to other examples. Do we walk out of a problematic / dull marriage as Mrs Kramer did or do we stay in it for the sake of society (and kids) as Francesca did? Both of them needed courage - one to act and the other to not act. What then is courage?

Courage is, perhaps, what is needed for us to take a decision (and act upon it) even if the act is to not run away as in the case of mom deer or Francesca - one might call such act a sacrifice - this act could cause a baggage and could lead to emotional manipulation - "look what I sacrificed for you". These people tend to carry guilt for their occasional pro-life acts which were in violation of their own principles.
On the other hand courage could also lead to the act of finding cheese elsewhere as Mrs Kramer did. The first kind follows a rule or a discipline. 
The 2nd kind chooses life. This leaves no baggage. These people, despite choosing life, tend to carry regret for pro-life acts that they wanted to do at times but didn't.

Pro death (the 1st kind) people see courage in suicide or sacrifice and in following principles. People who are pro life like to chase dreams and they like to see courage in that act. The question is not about who acts and who is passive. The question is about what our act is towards? Are we chasing a dream or sticking to principles? (I am assuming that the two are mutually exclusive). Of course Ayn Rand made it seem as though the two could and did coexist.

Incidentally society calls it a sacrifice which involves the courage of the pro-death kind.

Additional reading:
http://vbala99.blogspot.com/2015/06/difference-between-cameron-and-roark.html