What we read has an impact on how we speak and the decisions we make. Perhaps by reading more stories about the real Courage of ordinary people like Yasuteru Yamada, we will be inspired to exercise our own Courage.

A Courageous Short Story

And after the worst of the Fukushima nuclear disaster was contained, there was still a lot of cleanup and containment to be undertaken. Yasuteru Yamada, a 72-year-old cancer survivor, felt awful as he watched young men being doused in radiation day after day in an attempt to undo the damage. As a result, he established the Skilled Veterans Corp. a volunteer force of elderly Japanese engineers and other helpers to fill in for the youth. Almost immediately, he gathered 400 volunteers.

The elderly volunteers agreed that their work at the plant could cut years off their lives and expose them to serious illness over time. “I am 72, and on average, I potentially have 13 to 15 years left to live,” Yamada said. cancer could take 20 to 30 years or longer to grow even though I was exposed to radiation. As a result, those of us who are older have a lower risk of developing cancer.” (adapted from the Mental Floss blog series)

How Do We Shape Character?

Yasutera Yamada demonstrated three of the Character Habits that we must cultivate in order to become Character Leaders.

1)Our emotions are the foundation of our personality.

2) Our words are formed by our emotions.

3) Our words have an impact on our behaviour.

4) Our behaviours become patterns as they are replicated over time.

5) Our personalities are formed by our habits.

The secret to happiness is freedom... And the secret to freedom is courage. 

The Bottom Line:

 How much knowledge do we constantly bombard our brains with? Do we form our thought with stories about people like Yasutera Yamada? Or do we depend on what appears in the press's social media feeds?

If we just look for them, we will find stories about Character Leaders. We should share them after we find them. That's just what I'm up to.