We all know these situations in which our inner voice says: “You can’t leave that way, you have to do something.” But there is something that stops us from intervening and showing moral courage (sometimes also called civil/civic courage or everyday courage). For me, it’s about a fifty-fifty split: in 50% of the cases, I show my colors, stand up for justice or for what I believe is the “right thing to do”, yet in 50% of cases, I, too, look the other way. Why is it that in some cases we don’t follow our inner voice that tells us what we should do?
I have to admit, it can become unpleasant to point out to someone that they did something wrong. They could insult or even attack us. Bystanders might be wondering: “Why on earth is she interfering?” Realizing that others are not going to support us might make us feel insecure and make the situation even more uncomfortable, because you don’t want to attract any negative attention. Intervening sometimes also can have negative consequences afterwards for the person showing moral courage – when the people involved are in some form of dependency. Just imagine getting into a situation where you point out to your boss or your teacher that they have just behaved in a discriminatory manner. Now, that takes a lot of courage.
Here is a short story from my self-awareness course I attended as part of my coaching training: In this 4-day seminar, I as a participant observed on the 2nd day that one person in the coaching team was acting in a rather unprofessional and manipulative manner. I immediately addressed this behavior openly and criticized it in front of all the other 15 participants. What I wanted to achieve was to protect the young colleague affected and to not leave her on her own. A small number of the other participants also considered the behavior of the coach to be inappropriate and unacceptable and also expressed this openly in front of everyone after some time delay. I was very irritated about the fact that only a minority of the people in the room – all of which had received training in systemic coaching – showed moral courage.
In fact, studies show that 60% to 100% of the respondents said they were willing to stand up for others when they experience injustice. However, observation shows that less than 30% of people are prepared to leave their comfort zone and show moral courage.
The treatment I received from the two coaches after this incident during my self-awareness course was very unpleasant for me. They were not able to admit they had made a mistake and kept throwing jibes in my direction over the following two days of the seminar.
Since this very small personal experience, my respect for people who show moral courage in the face of stronger or more powerful people, and thus risk their physical integrity, has grown very significantly.
While moral courage may be an abstract word (it means civic courage or the courage of us as citizens), standing up for others in public is something that can be done in our everyday lives. It starts on a small scale, for example when we address unfair behavior, and ends with public resistance against totalitarian systems, which has so often been – and still is – paid for with one’s life.
Perhaps we can resolve to practice moral courage on a small scale, for example by not ignoring any kind of discrimination, bullying, racist attacks or injustices that we experience in groups.
Because each and every one of us has the power to make the world a little bit better: be it at home, in a club, in a pub, on the street, in a company, or in society as a whole.
In a nutshell: I would like to encourage people to show moral courage whenever possible, because not turning away, and feeling responsible always makes a difference! At the same time, I would like to acknowledge, based on my own experience, that standing up for others can feel very uncomfortable, even if it is on a small scale.
This text first appeared in my newsletter "It's innovation Wednesday". It is published every three to four weeks. For subscription click here