“One Man of Courage Makes a Majority”
by Lillian Bonar
Essay: “One Man of Courage Makes a Majority”
Pages: 11
Rating: 3 stars
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What is courage? Is it the ability to confront fear, pain, and uncertainty (Merriam Webster Dictionary)? Is it bravery
in the face of Death and physical pain, or is it the will to take a stand against popular opposition for what is right?
Courage could be said to be embodied by all of these, but is courage, at its very base, something more? Is
courage the determination to act rightly, to preserve one’s virtue, whether or not you consciously decide so or
not? Is courage not found in the very heart and soul of an individual, rather than a calculated and deliberate
decision to act so? Albus Dumbledore certainly thought so. Professor Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore
(Summer 1881 – June 1997) was the Transfiguration Professor, Deputy Head and later Headmaster of Hogwarts
School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Order of Merlin, First Class, Supreme Mugwump of the International
Confederation of Wizards, Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot, and Grand Sorcerer (The Harry Potter Lexicon). As a
man who faced great opposition, hardships, and sadness in his long life, a man who has been said many to have
been the greatest wizard who ever lived, Albus was a man who lived and died with a tremendous amount of
courage in his heart. His entire moral fiber was made up of and founded upon the notions of courage, love, and
altruism. Although Albus Dumbledore is a fictional character, his heroics in the Harry Potter novels are exactly the
type of elements of courage described by John F. Kennedy in his modern classic, Profiles in Courage.
While Dumbledore was not a politician or a government head, he did not hesitate to make his political positions
known, despite opposition, and was unafraid to pursue a unique and independent course after the return of...