Courage & Honor

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xVbSQpoFDb0

Michael Oher: Courage is a hard thing to figure. You can have courage based on a dumb idea or mistake, but you're not supposed to question adults, or your coach or your teacher, because they make the rules. Maybe they know best, but maybe they don't. It all depends on who you are, where you come from. Didn't at least one of the six hundred guys think a⋯⋯bout giving up, and joining with the other side? I mean, valley of death that's pretty salty stuff. That's why courage it's tricky. Should you always do what others tell you to do? Sometimes you might not even know why you're doing something. I mean any fool can have courage. But honor, that's the real reason for you either do something or you don't. It's who you are and maybe who you want to be. If you die trying for something important, then you have both honor and courage, and that's pretty good. I think that's what the writer was saying, that you should hope for courage and try for honor. And maybe even pray that the people telling you what to do have some, too.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Charge_of_the_Light_Brigade_(poem)
The Charge of the Light Brigade
Alfred, Lord Tennyson
1.
Half a league, half a league,
Half a league onward,
All in the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.
"Forward, the Light Brigade!
"Charge for the guns!" he said:
Into the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.
2.
"Forward, the Light Brigade!"
Was there a man dismay'd?
Not tho' the soldier knew
Someone had blunder'd:
Theirs not to make reply,
Theirs not to reason why,
Theirs but to do and die:
Into the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.
3.
Cannon to right of them,
Cannon to left of them,
Cannon in front of them
Volley'd and thunder'd;
Storm'd at with shot and shell,
Boldly they rode and well,
Into the jaws of Death,
Into the mouth of Hell
Rode the six hundred.
4.
Flash'd all their sabres bare,
Flash'd as they turn'd in air,
Sabring the gunners there,
Charging an army, while
All the world wonder'd:
Plunged in the battery-smoke
Right thro' the line they broke;
Cossack and Russian
Reel'd from the sabre stroke
Shatter'd and sunder'd.
Then they rode back, but not
Not the six hundred.
5.
Cannon to right of them,
Cannon to left of them,
Cannon behind them
Volley'd and thunder'd;
Storm'd at with shot and shell,
While horse and hero fell,
They that had fought so well
Came thro' the jaws of Death
Back from the mouth of Hell,
All that was left of them,
Left of six hundred.
6.
When can their glory fade?
O the wild charge they made!
All the world wondered.
Honor the charge they made,
Honor the Light Brigade,
Noble six hundred.

Copied from Poems of Alfred Tennyson,
J. E. Tilton and Company, Boston, 1870

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Charge_of_the_Light_Brigade_(poem) 輕騎兵的衝鋒（Charge of the Light Brigade），指克里米亞戰爭巴拉克拉瓦戰役中，由卡迪根勛爵（Lord Cardigan）帶領英軍輕騎兵向俄軍發起的衝鋒。當時，英軍總指揮拉格倫勛爵（Lord Raglan）派遣輕騎兵奪取戰線附近正在撤退的俄軍大炮，通訊人員卻錯誤傳達了他的命令，僅裝備馬刀的輕騎兵因此在易守難攻的地形上，正面沖向準備充足的俄軍炮兵。輕騎旅在猛烈的火力下，成功沖入炮兵陣地，但因為傷亡慘重，被迫撤退。在戰鬥中，英軍付出了沉重的代價，卻沒有實際得益。丁尼生勛爵為此寫下了作品輕騎兵的衝鋒（The Charge of the Light Brigade），在字裡行間中突出了輕騎兵的英勇，詩作亦成為這場衝鋒受後人銘記的原因。至於各界對通訊人員的批評，則存在一定爭議，因為拉格倫下達的命令本身就是模糊不清的，十分容易造成誤解，最終引致嚴重後果。

昨天又重看這部電影...人生中基本的單純與美好, 最近太多禿胖醜怪的紛紛擾擾, 群妖魔舞 sigh...