Courage. Not everyone has it and not everyone will activate it. Only a few will stand toe to toe with their fears and say, “come what may.”

Last week, over 70 years ago, courageous men stormed into the face of great opposition to throw of the yoke of tyranny and oppression in Operation Overlord. The Day, would become known as D-Day, June 6, 1944. At Omaha Beach alone, most units suffered a casualty rate of 90%, with some units near 100%. Over 3,300 men were lost on that one beach alone. Wave after wave of men, stormed the beach heads down, inching forward, the loss of life, the chaos of war everywhere. The ramp came down, the bullets, shells and violence flew, but these men born of courage, moved forward.

What drove them on?

Courage.

Courage is born of conviction. Cowardice is born of self-interest. Worry is the path to fear. Your worries will turn into uncontrollable fears. So, instead of controlling your fears, your fears end up controlling you: this is known as paranoia. Fear kills trust. Leaders and followers alike that operate through the lens of paranoia will ultimately be consumed by paralysis, delusion or departure. Fear subverts the leader-follower relationship.

It takes courage to face your fears. Facing your fears simply means looking through your fears to see what is on the other side. This is why fears destroy faith, fear is all about what you think you see, not what you really see. Faith is the absence of sight. They conflict. Faith breeds and builds courage. Convictions strengthen courage.

Courage is a catalyst that stirs the hearts of others. Courage starts in the heart and moves to the mind. Fear strikes in the mind and moves to the heart. Courage and cowardice both exist in the heart. However, courage rises up to strike down the fears that fall from the mind, where cowardice sucombs and obeys the fears.

Courage is contagious. There is something in the human soul that gravitates and is inspired by those who demonstrate courage. A seemingly insignificant act coupled with courage can become the defining moment of a life, an organization or a people.