The Critique Of Marion Pritchard's Moral Courage

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The Oxford dictionary defines moral courage as “ the kind of courage which enables a person to remain firm in the face of odium or contempt, rather than depart from what he or she deems the right course” (Unknown 1). Marion Pritchard is a perfect example of moral courage, because of her willingness to put herself in danger to help even a few people. What she did, and how it impacted me, and how I think others could learn from it is what truly proves that she showed amazing moral courage. Marion Pritchard saved nearly 150 people during the World War II. She was 19 when the Germans invaded where she was currently living in Amsterdam. Most of her work was centered around young children, and families. She said it was her parents’ influence that caused her to join the Dutch Resistance (Burns 1). But her dedication to the cause was cemented when on her way to school she saw soldiers emptying out a Jewish children’s home …show more content…

She risked so much not knowing if any of it would pay off. As she described living with the Jewish family, “Jews in hiding couldn’t be visible, so I stayed with them, it was the right thing to do.” (Burns 1). She had no strong ties to the Jewish faith and yet, of her own free will risked her life to help, for no other reason than that she knew that what was going on around her was wrong, and she wanted to do whatever she could to stop it. And how even after the war ended and she was free to go back to her normal life, she decided to continue working as a social worker to help those displaced in the war find their surviving family. People can learn from this that we need to stand up and show the same moral courage that Pritchard exhibited, and when faced with these types of injustices to take a risk to fight against them instead of hiding in fear, or simply brushing them to the side saying that there is nothing that they can do about