All posts tagged: courage

Jo Cox’s Courage, Ten Years On – Humanists UK

Jo Cox’s Courage, Ten Years On – Humanists UK

Published by Sam Flores

Today marks ten years since the assassination of Humanists UK member Jo Cox MP by a far right extremist: a dark day in the history of our country, and a wound in our public life that has not healed. It is hard to believe that a decade has passed since we were deprived of such a bright, compassionate, and courageous voice in our politics. For many people at the time, Jo’s murder felt at the time as though it must become a turning point. In the immediate aftermath, politicians, communities, and citizens came together in grief and solidarity, united in their rejection of the hatred and extremism that caused her death. Yet, ten years on, we cannot say that the forces Jo stood up against have disappeared or even diminished. The far right has been emboldened. Christian nationalism and other exclusionary ideologies are winning new relevance. Racism, misogyny, and contempt for minorities drive too much of our public debate. The racist violence and intimidation we have seen in places such as Belfast are frightening reminders …

The Courage to Disagree With Consensus

The Courage to Disagree With Consensus

Published by Jenni Sidey

In many industries, beliefs stick not because they’re constantly tested, but because repetition makes them feel true. Through social proof and conformity, repeated claims from credible sources can slowly turn uncertainty into “common sense.” The coffee industry is a clear example. For decades, Arabica, the most widely cultivated and consumed species of coffee plant, was treated as the standard for quality, while Robusta, known for its high caffeine content, hardy nature, and bold, earthy flavor, was seen as a lower-grade bean mostly used in instant coffee and cheap blends. Over time, that split became embedded in grading systems and specialty coffee culture, shaping what people learned to recognize as “good” coffee. In reality, what looks like objective quality is often just shared belief, reinforced over time by culture, economics, and repetition. To better understand how these assumptions form—and what it takes to challenge them in practice—I spoke with Eirik Holth and Gabriel Shohet, co-founders and co-CEOs of Black Sheep Coffee. As operators who have built and scaled a coffee business by challenging long-standing industry assumptions, …

San Diego mosque shooting victims recalled as ‘men of courage’

San Diego mosque shooting victims recalled as ‘men of courage’

Published by Sam Flores

(RNS) — The three American Muslims killed during a shooting Monday (May 18) at a San Diego mosque are being remembered by their imam and faith community as “men of courage, sacrifice and faith” who put themselves on the line to protect others.  The Islamic Center of San Diego identified the victims as Amin Abdullah, a gentle security guard; Nadir Awad, a dedicated neighbor; and Mansour Kaziha, a longtime shopkeeper and caretaker of the mosque. Abdullah died protecting more than 200 children and community members, the mosque’s Imam Taha Hassane said in an interview with RNS. The “beloved” security guard was killed first, Hassane said, but before he died, he used his radio to warn teachers in the center’s school to lock their classroom doors. He “undoubtedly he saved lives today” by delaying the shooters in a gunbattle in front of the mosque, said San Diego Police Department Chief Scott Wahl during a press conference Monday.  Federal authorities are investigating the shooting at the largest mosque in San Diego as a hate crime. They said on …

Mother Courage and her Children review – moving, funny and savage portrait of life during wartime | Theatre

Mother Courage and her Children review – moving, funny and savage portrait of life during wartime | Theatre

Published by Sam Flores

This production of Bertolt Brecht’s masterpiece seems to break the first rule of Brecht’s epic theatre, which requires emotional distance. It conjures Brecht’s upside down world, in which war denotes order and profit, while underlining all the losses that Mother Courage faces in spite of her relentless entrepreneurialism and attempts at profiteering – selling anything from burgers to ammunition and sex. But it is human, moving and funny. The distance closes and the production becomes devastating in its most savage moments, when Mother Courage loses her children, one by one. Translator Anna Jordan justifies these moments by interpreting Brecht’s rule of verfremdungseffekt as making the drama “strange” rather than distanced. And in director Elle While’s powerful production, the emotional drama is tightly controlled, flaring up momentarily. In between flare ups, the narrator (Max Runham) pulls us away from the intimacies of this family to draw the bigger picture, summarising the gyrations of war and Courage’s travails over the years. Michelle Terry as Courage is a calculating hustler with few soft edges – a cross between …

‘Courage comes at a cost’

‘Courage comes at a cost’

Published by Daniella Wilson

Add Secret Service to your Watchlist Once in a while, as a writer, an idea comes along so compelling you burn to head to your laptop and start working on it straightaway. Secret Service, which was a Sunday Times bestseller and is now an ITV drama, was one of those moments. It was 2017 and the world was spinning a lot faster on its axis: Brexit; Trump; the scandal the US President would come to term the “Russia hoax”, in which he stood accused of effectively being a Moscow Centre sleeper asset; allegations that the Russians had been trying to bribe or blackmail politicians across Europe… This changing geopolitical environment was occupying my every working moment, as it was most journalists. It seemed to me that several things were obviously true: we were in a new Cold War, which was more complex and more dangerous than the old one, and one in which our enemies’ goals – undermining democratic norms and ultimately democracy itself – were considerably easier to achieve. After all, there were plenty …

The Courage to Not Know Yet

The Courage to Not Know Yet

Published by Jenni Sidey

Under the pressure to decide, our human tendency is to speed up the process and allow what seem to be highly informed and well-meaning internal thoughts take over our internal dialogue. The internal voices are often coming from a reactive place in our psyche, focused on fear, control, and power. The reactive voices usually narrow our perspective. Author, economist, and Nobel Prize winner Daniel Kahneman showed us how quickly we default to reactive-driven thinking in his ground-breaking best-seller Thinking, Fast and Slow. He describes a shrinking of our perspective at precisely the moment we most need to expand it. It is as if we walk around with blinders to anything other than our tightly held point of view,. With such restriction, it’s easy for us to miss the mark. There is, however, another way, very different from our usual approach to decision-making, and it can be transformative. Let me explain this approach. Author Parker Palmer (A Hidden Wholeness, the Journey Toward an Undivided Life) offers an alternative that has its genesis hundreds of years ago …

Gisèle Pelicot on rape, courage and her ex-husband: ‘He was loved by everyone. That’s what is so terrifying’ | Gisèle Pelicot

Gisèle Pelicot on rape, courage and her ex-husband: ‘He was loved by everyone. That’s what is so terrifying’ | Gisèle Pelicot

Published by Sam Flores

At Gisèle Pelicot’s new home on Île de Ré off France’s Atlantic coast, she likes to take bracing walks along the beach in all weathers, play classical music loud, eat nice chocolate and, as a gift to each new morning, always set the table for breakfast the night before. “It’s my way of putting myself in a good mood when I wake up: the cups are out already, I just need to put the kettle on,” she says. But one of her most treasured possessions is a box of letters she keeps on her desk. The envelopes from across the world – some sent on a prayer, addressed only with her name and the village in Provence where she once lived – piled up at the courthouse in Avignon in southern France in late 2024, when she became famous worldwide as a symbol of courage for waiving her right to anonymity in the trial of her ex-husband and dozens of men he had invited to rape her while she was drugged unconscious. For almost a …

Readers reply: can you acquire courage? | Life and style

Readers reply: can you acquire courage? | Life and style

Published by Sam Flores

Is it possible to acquire courage if you don’t have it? I was moved by the recent story of the Australian boy who swam to land for several hours in rough waters to raise the alarm that his mother and siblings had been swept out to sea. Despite his exhaustion, he then ran several kilometres to find a phone. But I’m also thinking of the lesser demands for courage – such as standing up to a friend, or family member, or tackling a company that’s ignoring your polite requests when you’re suffering from its actions. Or I also wonder how people do certain jobs that, to me, require buckets of courage: starting a business or any other sort of professional risk-taking; reporting from a war zone like Lyse Doucet or Jeremy Bowen. Or just being a police officer knocking on the door of a suspect and not knowing what is on the other side. Austin Appelbee, right, with his brother, Beau, left, his mother, Joanne, and sister Grace, in Gidgegannup, Australia, after Austin swam to …

Simran Jeet Singh on Courage and Community

Simran Jeet Singh on Courage and Community

Published by Sam Flores

 What does courage look like on the ground? For many faith leaders and everyday citizens, it involves showing up despite risks, discomfort, or opposition. Dr. Simran Jeet Singh, scholar and activist, describes courage rooted in love and fearlessness—values encoded in Sikh teachings like nirpo (fearlessness) and nirvad (without hatred). Simran reflects that true bravery is not about bravado or self-assertion but about steadfastly choosing love over hatred, even when faced with hate or violence. For example, during a clergy-led protest in Minnesota, ordinary people—clergy, community members, and even those with vulnerabilities—stood on the front lines, committed to protecting their neighbors and advocating for justice. Their actions exemplify that small, consistent acts of love and solidarity are the most powerful resistance to authoritarian tactics. This kind of courage asks us to stand with neighbors in difficult moments, practice humility and listen deeply, and act lovingly in the face of fear. The author of the best-selling book The Light We Give: How Sikh Wisdom Can Transform Your Life, Simran shares a story from Sikh tradition that struck me: a tiny …

Safety, Presence, and the Courage to Experience Truth

Safety, Presence, and the Courage to Experience Truth

Published by Jenni Sidey

The other evening, I went for a walk through Barcelona. I passed the crowded tourist areas, crossed the football fields, and was heading back home when I came by the Church of St. Francis of Assisi. On impulse, I went in. A mass was taking place. The priest was distributing the body of Christ. For a moment, I considered joining the line, but I felt like I would be intruding — like entering something intimate that was not mine. Instead, I sat down. As I settled, I began to notice the atmosphere in the room. There were perhaps 30 people — mostly elderly, along with a few young families and some teenagers. What struck me was not devotion, but density: a quiet, shared weight of lived suffering. Not dramatic or loud — just present. Many faces seemed marked by difficulty. I had entered seeking calm. Instead, I encountered vulnerability. Then I looked up at the crucifix — Christ suffering on the cross — not as doctrine, but as an image. As presence. A figure that …