Courageous or Not?

Paper Summary:

In this paper the author examines the life of Kyle Maynard who was born a congenital amputee. The author looks at the courage that Maynard faced despite adversity at every stage. Maynard did not let the fact that he was different from other kids get in the way of his sporting achievements and he became a top wrestler. The author relates many aspects of Maynard's life as a definition of courage as he sees it. In particular he looks at how Maynard forced himself to play football as a child and wrestled despite the glaring differences to other children. The author clearly believes that Maynard is not a disabled man because disabled people have limitations that prevent them from completing routine functions, but Maynard does not fail to complete anything. He believes that Maynard is an innovator. A man that has found the courage to face fear, and develop new ways to accomplish the same challenges as any other person, with his own unique approach. The author concludes with his belief that Maynard is the epitome of what courage stands for.

From the Paper:

"Kyle is courageous, but not because he participated in football and wrestling. Thousands of people play sports every year. Certainly there is inherent pressure, but that alone does not make one courageous. What makes Kyle courageous is that he played both sports in the face of cynicism from outside forces. Despite his obvious and glaring physical shortcomings, he went out and performed at a high level. That despite the fact that he could not walk, run or throw, he played football, a sport that cherishes those very abilities. That in the face of a seventeen match losing streak, he found his way to the mat for that eighteenth match, and somewhere inside himself overcame his disability, to prove that in fact he had no disability."

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