Courage to Stand
Against Conventional Wisdom

Alexander M. Goldfinger

[Reprinted from The Gargoyle, January 1964]

In the White House and in the White House Rose Garden two U. S. Secret Service men were recently eulogized and decorated for their courage and devotion in interposing their bodies to an assassin's rifle to protect President Johnson and Mrs. Kennedy. The decorated men deserved the praise showered upon them.

From time immemorial, humans have admired and tried to emulate their heroes whose intrepid physical courage was made apparent by their deeds of endurance and exposure to danger, even death.

Such heroes are enshrined in memory, in our poetry and in the glowing annals of every nation. Most small boys, trying to impress their companions (male and/or female) will try to "show-off" by feats of prowess, frequently risking' bodily harm and often injuring themselves. They seek the plaudits of those they are trying to impress. Little boys become big boys and their desire for admiration motivates some to race automobiles or to recklessly expose themselves to the hazards of other physical prowess in games of sport. Some recklessly use firearms to impress their companions with their courage and disregard of consequences.

All in all, the men and women who are willing to undergo physical pain, temporary or permanent injury for the attainment of a goal are admired. In the periods of war, those, most highly regarded are the ones who were even willing to die rather than betray their countrymen to enemies.

In society, some individuals who have the courage of their convictions, that is, ideas or behavioral patterns which differ from the norm are often designated as queer. Henry Thoreau was one such individual. He believed that the possession of material goods beyond the necessities of existence did not bring contentment. He preferred the solitude of nature to the clamorings of vain humans and so he lived alone on the shores of Walden Pond. So, of course, many of his contemporaries considered him a hermit, anti-social, a nut. His convictions, set forth in his book Walden are admired and influence great numbers of persons in this country and abroad since many copies of his book written many years ago, are still published, bought and read.

Most of us have had the experience of being with _a group of people who drifted into a discussion of some controversial subject such as civil rights, Medicare, Social Security or taxation. We may have definite convictions about the subject under discussion but some prefer not to be considered as "ultra conservative" "radical" or by some other label considered by many to be unflattering, and so they remain silent and keep their convictions to themselves.

Yes, it requires courage to be different from the mob. Yet, the vast improvement in men's knowledge, in science, in civilized behavior is usually the result of an idea or thought in some single person's mind, which, when it was understood by others, changed the course of human events and progress.

Sometimes for their ideas, men who voiced them suffered scorn, approbrium, even death. One remembers Socrates, Galileo among others.

In the past three decades, the growth of the Welfare State became so popular and accepted that one who was not in favor or more and more state control, subsidies and "Social Security" was in the small minority and was considered by many as lacking human compassion. Yet there were some, even in the minority, who felt so deeply that the Welfare State was an infringement on human liberty, and liberty was so dear to them, that they bore the criticism, the epithets voiced by the majority and proclaimed and defended their views.

Yes, it takes courage to do so. If the pendulum should swing the other way, from statism to human liberty, and it appears as though such a swing is now in process, then the debt must be acknowledged that we owe to the heroes, those of superior courage who kept the torch alive when it was unpopular to do so. We, who know that misery and poverty endured by millions of people on this planet is due to the land tenure systems which deprive those suffering millions of equal opportunity by making access to land difficult if not impossible have an opportunity of demonstrating courage by voicing our convictions, by being "out of step" with the unthinking majority. Perhaps success shall not crown our efforts. Perhaps we will not be able to affect the reform that could emancipate tens of millions from the pangs of hunger and from degrading poverty, but we shall have kept alive the torch of understanding, of thinking through from cause to effect, that eventually will have to be the means of a change for the better.

Rewards? Only the inner satisfaction that one can feel who holds his integrity in high regard. Only the joy that comes to one from the knowledge that, if he does not leave in this world a better life for his progeny, at least he has worked towards that end and others may be influenced to continue the effort.

Yes, those who have for their ideal the striving to make this a better world for mankind are heroes whose courage in furthering their ideals is inferior to no one's courage.