Socratic Dialogue: Courage

Setting: The front room. A summer day.

Penelope: Sees another dog walking down the street in front of her house. Penelope barks loudly.>Oh! There is that dog who walks by our house again! He is in our territory! I am barking at him as loudly as I can! Duncan! Duncan! Go get him!

Duncan: Why should I go get him? I don’t care that he’s in our territory. He walks through it rather quickly with his human and never stays.

Penelope: Barking at the dog even louder now> But don’t you see? He’s in our territory and it’s wrong that a strange dog is in our pack’s territory. Go get him!

Duncan: Go get him yourself.

Penelope: What?

Duncan: Go get him yourself if you feel so strongly about it.

Penelope: I won’t do that.

Duncan: Why? You will certainly make a big fuss when he comes by.

Penelope: I’m scared.

Duncan: Of what?

Penelope: Of the other dog. He could hurt me. That’s why you have to go get him for me.

Duncan: I’ve already told you, I don’t mind him. It’s you who minds him. And if you mind him so much, you should go get him. Stand behind your barks.

Penelope: I want to tell him that he’s an invader, but I really don’t want to have to back it up. I’m little and he’s big. I need some one to stand up for me. It’s like when we go for walks and I bark at other dogs but when they come up to me I hide behind Mommy because she can protect me.

Duncan: So what you are saying is that you make it a policy to say one thing and then do another?

Penelope: Yes.

Duncan: What meaning do your barks have if you don’t back them up? Without the conviction to back them up they are just sound and fury.

Penelope: Well look at that, he’s gone. I must have scared him away with my vicious barking.

Duncan: Yes, that’s exactly what he’s responding to -- your all bark and no bite strategy.