I’m fed up! We need someone to talk about good examples of character in action. The press covers the lack of character in politics, sports, and academia like sharks when blood is in the water. They rarely cover stories like Yasutera Yamada. Below is his short story of great Courage in just 500 words. 

Great Courage

What we read affects how we speak and the choices we make. Perhaps by reading more stories describing the real Courage of an average person like Yasuteru Yamada, we will be inspired to exercise Courage ourselves. 

A Short Story of Great Courage

Even after the worst of the Fukushima nuclear disaster had been contained, there was a massive amount of cleanup and containment remaining to be done. Yasuteru Yamada, a 72-year old engineer and cancer survivor, felt terrible as he watched young men being doused in radiation day after day as they tried to neutralize the damage. So he started the Skilled Veterans Corps, a volunteer force of elderly Japanese engineers and other helpers to take the place of the young. He gathered 400 volunteers almost immediately.

The elderly volunteers accepted that their work at the plant may take years off their lives and subject them, after a period of time, to severe illness. But, as Yamada said, “I am 72 and on average I probably have 13 to 15 years left to live. Even if I were exposed to radiation, cancer could take 20 or 30 years or longer to develop. Therefore us older ones have less chance of getting cancer.” (adapted from the Blog series Mental Floss)

Andersons’ 12 Word or less Definitions

  • Courage:  Acting despite perceived or actual risk.
  • Humility:  Believing and acting like “It’s not about me.”
  • Selflessness:  Putting the needs of other before my own needs, desires, and convenience.

How We Develop Character

Yasutera Yamada displayed three of the Habits of Character that we must develop to become Leaders of Character. 

  1. Our character starts with our thoughts.
  2. Our thoughts shape our words.
  3. Our words influence our actions.
  4. Our actions, repeated over time, become our habits.
  5. Habits form our character.

The Bottom Line:

What information do we flood our brains with on a daily basis? Do we use stories about people like Yasutera Yamada to shape our thinking? Or do we let whatever pops up in the press’s social media feeds do that for us?

There are stories about Leaders of Character out there if we just look for them. Once we find them, we should share them. That is what I am doing.  

I’m fed up with hearing about the negative examples of character in politics, sports, and academia. For the next several weeks I am going to post a new true story, in 500 words or less, that will hopefully give us all something to positively influence our character. Please share them.

Question:

What short stories of great Courage can you share?

You can purchase Dave’s best seller Becoming a Leader of Character through Amazon here: bit.ly/LOCBook

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