In the 1939 film classic, The Wizard of Oz, the Cowardly Lion is looking for the Wizard to give him courage. He is afraid of everything and anything. However, in Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle believes that courage is possible for all individuals. To gain courage, one must possess the inner qualities that will guide the courageous. The most important of these qualities is accepting death itself. Furthermore, some conceptions of courage are misperceived because they seem parallel to each other; nevertheless, they are still very different. One must have many different inner qualities to acquire courage. First, one should not worry about death; death can be a beautiful thing. Aristotle explains that the possibility of dying for one's country in war can be the greatest and most poetic danger of all. (Aristotle 48) Dying for a defending country gives honor because he or she remains steadfast in his or her belief, regardless of what might happen to him or her. Aristotle compares this to citizenship. He claims: “Citizens seem to endure dangers from the punishments that come from laws, and from reproaches, and from honors; and it is for this reason that these people seem to be the most courageous. (51) Citizens here demonstrate courage and do not fear the consequences. The motive here is not fear that the end result will be their persecution, but good and self-defense. One must aspire to honor by being inflexible in a belief. To achieve this, one must be inferior and proceed not out of shame but out of apprehension. (51) Another inner quality that one must possess to be courageous is to do so in a balanced manner. Aristotle talks about the courageous... middle of paper ...... despite my failures, I strive every day to be more like Aristotle's courageous individual. After reviewing the inner qualities of a courageous person, facing death (or failures) in honor of something greater, more poetic; and their balanced manner, it is clear that; if we are obsessed with death or with our failures, we will never be able to escape. Realize that the most important inner quality is to face death, because if you don't, you will never achieve anything more beautiful (in the poetic sense) in your life. When we face death or failure, we accept the greatest challenge of all. And finally, I strive to be like Aristotle's courageous individual because he is right between the reckless individual and the coward. Nicomachean Ethics. Trans. Joe Sachs. Newburyport, MA: Focus Publishing R. Pullins Company, 2002.