The Cost of Courage

Credit: Getty Images

Courage is the moral strength to venture, persevere, and withstand danger, fear, or difficulty, according to Merriam-Webster. It comes from the Latin cor, meaning heart. My father instilled in me a respect for the word and the ideal when I was very ill as a young child. 

We see courageous acts every day from frontline workers across America. Our history, too, is replete with courageous figures from battlefields to the back of the bus and with the likes of Susan B. Anthony and John Lewis. But I don’t recall anyone, anywhere in recent times with more courage than Russian dissident Alexei Navalny. 

Knowing he faced certain imprisonment and probable death, Navalny returned to his home country just over three years ago. Think about this for a moment: Vladimir Putin’s fiercest critic, after being poisoned by Russian agents in Russia, was able to get out of the country to recover in Germany. He then chose to return.

I remember watching the spectacle when he arrived at the Moscow airport and was immediately arrested. My initial thought was, “Why would he do such a thing?” Then it occurred to me that this self-repatriation was among the braver moments I’d ever witnessed. Navalny was not naive. He knew exactly what he was doing. Standing up to Putin would probably cost him his life. Three years later, it did. 

In 2020, he told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour why he felt compelled to go back. He wanted to work to remove Putin from office because he believed the Russian dictator was a corrupt man causing the downfall of his country.

Last week, the onslaught of sympathy, anger, and recrimination from world leaders was swift. President Biden minced no words. “Putin is responsible. What has happened to Navalny is yet more proof of Putin’s brutality. No one should be fooled, not in Russia, not at home, not anywhere in the world.” 

Unsurprisingly, the presumptive GOP presidential nominee and Putin apologist, who is rarely quiet about anything, has been silent on Navalny. That was until Monday when Trump offered a nonsensical social media post that blamed no one and offered no condolences.

Navalny’s presumed assassination (the Russians refuse to release the body or provide information about his death) is another in a long line of examples of the amoral dictatorial authority in Moscow. And it isn’t far from our doorstep, with Donald Trump seemingly in Putin’s pocket. Trump has told MAGA legislators to work against funding for Ukraine. At the same time, Ukrainian forces are losing ground, retreating in some areas and desperate for ammunition and supplies. When asked if he would defend a country behind on its NATO payments against a Russian invasion, Trump said, “I would encourage them [Russia] to do whatever the hell they want. You got to pay.” Many in the international community have taken that statement to mean a second Trump term could see a U.S. pullout from NATO altogether. 

That would be a destabilizing disaster that would embolden Putin and others like him. Against this backdrop, we should ask ourselves if we can afford to face Russia and other threats alone. And consider deeply what happens if Ukraine falls.

The world needs to stand up to Putin. The courage of one man is not enough, of course. But keeping alive the memories of Navalny’s heroism will help.

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