Why do they always call sick people courageous and brave?

Question

I'm sorry they are ill, but they have no choice; they have the disease and have to deal with it. some better than others I agree, but not courageous or brave.

Answer 1

its a card they are dealt that they had no choice alot of times  and they can easily take there own lives  

then also why do military people cops an firemen are called hero's they signed up for a job and get paid  now if there was a draft i would say different.

Answer 2

It is something that has become general ettiquette, or a general saying, it doesn't necessarily mean anything. You dont have to look into this saying so literally.

Answer 3

I agree that those words (along with "hero") are tossed around a lot these days.  But I think it's reasonable to say that someone is "brave" when they show strength in the face of a very difficult situation.  Not everyone can do that.

Answer 4

I know what you mean, but I'm guilty. I sometimes find myself thinking it.....I think it's because the person has never experienced that thing before and they may see this thing as a tough thing to be going through.......but I still believe that people that have illnesses and people that have had limbs amputated are very courageous......they have to start things again.....what they wanted to achieve before, they can't now achieve..so I do kind of see where you're coming from.....

Answer 5

i am DISGUTED!!!!

Fisrt off: They are brave because they are fighting through the disease and not letting them self die and there trying everything.

Second:If he has a surgery then he is brave to do it. he doesnt have to but he wants to to fight it.

Third:HES YOUR SON!! tell him hes brave because anyone who is sick is unless they die the first second off there sickness i mean he could off just tried to kill himself and he didnt and hes brave because  thats the point he has to put up with it he could just kill himself and be over it

i started to cry when i read this question

Answer 6

You'll probably get thumbs down for that opinion, but I have to agree.  I grew up very close to a cousin who was blind since birth.  He knew no other way, but everyone thought of him as so brave and courageous.  He would be the first one to tell you, "h**l, I'm just living.  I don't know any other way."  It wasn't necessarily a disease, but it was a lifelong condition.  

However, when you're dealing with illness, I think there's a general tendency to expect people to sit around and cry and wither away to nothing without even putting up a fight, so when they decide to put up a fight, they are labeled as brave. People who grow up healthy, and then have something drastically change, learn to adapt or die.  It may not necessarily make them brave, but it does make them tenacious.

Answer 7

I'm on the fence about this one.  I grew up an only child with a single  alcoholic and often times folks would say I'm "courageous" and "brave".  Myself, I thought there was nothing courageous or brave about it.  I had been dealt a bad hand and was just dealing with it.  My mother is also a schizophrenic but I don't think there's anything brave about her.  

I understand the sentiments of people who think they are because we certainly feel sorry for those that have to deal with such dabilitating conditions.  It is certainly something we don't want to have to deal with ourselves.  I think that police officers and firemen can be brave because they can choose to walk away instead of doing their jobs.  Illnesses are different because you have no choice.  

Some of the answers to this question seriously gave me diabetes just reading them.  Sorry, sad but true.  If I get diabetes from reading some of these answers, am I brave?  

Answer 8

You try fighting a devastating illness, or recovering from a horrible accident, and tell me the person fighting through the pain and discomfort is not brave or courageous.  I have a dear friend, who has been fighting cancer for 14 years, she is the bravest, strongest most courageous person I know.  

Yes folks have to deal with it, the way one deals with it determines bravery or courage in the face of death.  Some choose to sit and whine and pine away instead of fighting the odds... to say these folks are not brave is doing them a great disservice, and is very callous.

Answer 9

Then you more than anyone, unless you are totally not in touch with what a person with that illness faces, should know the social stigma, the rejection, the mistrust, and the fear, society puts upon an individual like your son.  Having been through years of crippling phobias, and severe chronic anxiety and Panic Attack Syndrome, way before anyone even heard of Panic Attacks, I know how much bravery it takes to even want to get out of bed in the morning, to try to eat those two mouthfuls of food you manage to get down at each meal, to allow people to come in to see you when you'd rather stay in bed alone, to force yourself to go into that car that brings you to appointments so you can get help, to watch life pass you by and see all your friends living with joy and laughter, while you are thinking that you will try your best to want to breathe.  People ill with diseases, brave?...courageous?.. you,re d**n right, they are. Just as every bit courageous as the soldiers fighting the war.  It's even scarier when the war you're fighting is inside you.  Now look at your son with different eyes.  He's lucky they have meds now that are specialized for different mental illnesses, because it wasn't long ago, that he would have had the battle of his life, and still could if he were to go off meds.  I knew a young man who lived in the same apt building as I , when I first moved out on my own.  Nobody told us that when off his meds he  could get violent.  One day, after having accomplished a lot in his life, he decided not to take his meds, and after a couple of days without it, ended up killing two people.  

          It doesn't matter what illness it is, cancer, heart disease,arthritis,etc., there are a large number of people who put in that position, would rather give up and let it kill them, or commit suicide rather than try to make some normalcy out of a bad situation.  Then there are the cowards, those who do things they know will kill them, like smoke,drink, do drugs, and yet when they are on their death beds, they still smoke, still drink, and still do drugs, or are stupid enough to ask, why me?  When the ones who want to live are given a death sentence and fight for every ounce of life they can, because they respected life and enjoyed life in the first place.  They do for others even when in pain, they don't have time to think of themselves and their suffering, because they want to live while they can, no matter how painful.  That takes courage.  The next time you see your son, give him a hug, and a kiss on the cheek,for me, and tell him how proud I am  of him, for having the courage to live life, even when it wasn't easy to do, and how glad I am that he is in your life,for you to love.  

Answer 10

Well.  I disagree with you.  If someone has a terminal illness or a debilitating disease and they give in to it, they give up, I would not call them courageous or brave (though I wouldn't call them weak either).  However, if they are dealing with it and fighting it and living life to the fullest in spite of it and continuing on with their lives in the best way they can, then by all means, they are courageous and brave and deserve respect.  It is EASY to sit here and say they are not and it's EASY to be a normal, healthy  person and get through life.  People who don't know constant pain and sickness and struggle (life and death struggle) have it easier than they realize.   And yet we still complain about our lives.   How ridiculous is that!?   However when you're faced with unfathomable circumstances and you STILL fight through every day even though it is a horrendous struggle, then d**n it, you are extremely courageous and brave!

My father in law has bone marrow cancer.  He got it in Vietnam from exposure to Agent Orange. His body is slowly wearing out.  It won't kill him any time soon because it doesn't touch internal organs.  He will only die when he has completely worn out even though he looks like walking death right now.    He is in constant pain, can't walk without severe pain which no pain meds can touch.  He is sick to his stomach after every meal.  There are innumerable ways his body is failing him because of the disease...too many to list here.  And yet he gets up every day and visits his grandchildren. He travels 6 hours (round trip) three times a week to go to the doctor taking care of his cancer.  He does so many things when it would just be easier to give up and stay in bed all day and call it quits.  However, he's not giving up.  He still wants to live and he still wants to be here for his family.  THAT is brave and THAT is courageous.  

What about the women suffering from breast cancer who have to deal with chemo while still holding down jobs and taking care of their kids and loving their husband.  They don't give up when it would certainly be easier to do so.  THAT is brave and THAT is courageous.

If your son is working through his illness and trying to be the best that he can be, then he is also brave and courageous and you should never trivialize or belittle what he is going through by saying "he's just gotta deal with it."  Because he could just as easily give in to it.  You should be ashamed for thinking he just has to "deal with it." You should be more supportive to him and realize that he's getting through life with a severe handicap and yet he's still doing it.  He will always have it harder than anyone else around him.  You should see that for what it is and realize that he is indeed brave and courageous to "deal" with his disability.

Your comment about "we all do" when having to "deal with it" is way off base.  Because "we all don't."  If you're healthy you have it EASY.   You may be sorry people are ill, but if you're generally healthy, you have no concept of what the truly sick go through.  And it's easy to sit on the outside looking in and say, wow, what's so brave about their life?  You just have no idea.  You're not sick.  You don't have to deal with the struggles they have and STILL get through the day being a productive human being to those around you.

Answer 11

First, it's not "always."  Second, it is sometimes easier to commit suicide than to deal with a disease and the problems associated with the disease.