A bunch of us were leaving comments over a picture posted on RP of the Coast Guard at work in heavy seas. The words: "brave" and "courageous" came up in the thread. So I remembered explaining to my Grandkids the difference between being Brave, and having: courage.
It went like this:
"If your house is on fire, and you run in to get your big sister out...that is brave. Really brave. You thought of someone else before you thought of your own safety. Brave. Very brave. But being brave is an impulse. It has nothing to do with courage, because you don't know what you are doing.
You ran into the fire, something you never did before. You didn't know you can't see inside a fire. You didn't know you can't breathe inside a fire. You didn't know you could be burned, suffer from smoking inhalation, and even die. Nor did you know that you might suffer consequences for your future health. Or you might fail in saving someone's life, and have to live with that on your mind. You just ran in to save them. Brave, to me, is still admirable, but it lacks depth.

Now courage. Courage is different. Because it comes into play the SECOND time you run into that burning building. This time, you know what could happen: you know you can't see. You know you can't breathe. You know you might get burned, scarred, disfigured, or even die. And worst of all, you know you might not save them. But you go in anyway. Not an impulse this time...this time...it is a decision. Your life for someone else's. Courage.
I think, in my own weird way, that most of us are capable of being brave at least once. But to have courage enough to be brave ...again. Well, as Louis L'Amour would say: "I don't where they made that man (or woman) somewhere in the High Country; where they cut them wide and deep."
RP is filled with brave men and women, and almost all of them are well stocked with Courage too. SALUTE.