“Be safe” was a popular farewell during the COVID-19 pandemic. Cashiers, restaurant servers, friends signing off on the phone—a lot of people offered this bit of comfort and advice. That phrase trotted offstage along with the virus, but millions of people still say, as they did before the circus of masks and social distancing, “Take care.” It’s a standard parting comment, offered without much thought although still precautionary.
So is America now a seatbelt culture, metaphorically speaking? Have we become a people who are always testing the winds for trouble, looking before we leap, not with our eyes alone but with a microscope?
For more than 2,000 years, prudence has ranked high among the virtues. Careful management of our affairs is the mark of the wise. The man who sets aside money for a rainy day, the mom who reprimands her kindergartener for his tree-climbing antics, the defensive driver—all are behaving prudently.
On the other hand, another of the virtues is courage. If we’re afraid to speak up among friends discussing politics, fearful that they may disdain us, then prudence has overwhelmed courage. If we’re young, in good physical health, and still wearing a COVID mask in the grocery store, then a diseased version of prudence is our master.
Prudence derives from the Latin prudentia, meaning sagacity and insight. Courage comes to us from cor, the Latin word for heart. The first has to do with mind, the second with spirit. When we idolize one, we lay low the other.
You’re darn right I should.
And so should you, no matter your age.
Prudence warns against foolishness but not against a lust for life. From time to time, most of us give way to fear or excessive caution, and perhaps justifiably so. But whether we’re 15 or 65, let’s be sure to keep the sword of play and courage polished up and shining.
“L’audace, l’audace, tourjours l’audace!” goes the old adage. Always audacity. Always courage. Maybe instead of saying “take care” when we bid goodbye to a 7-11 clerk or a friend, we should sound off with a jaunty “toujours l’audace!” Right off the bat, that French not only lends us an air of sophistication, but it kickstarts us into a mood of adventure.
“Take care” and “toujours l’audace.” Use them both. Live them both. As always, balance is everything.