You risked your life, but what else have you risked? Have you ever risked disapproval? Have you ever risked economic security? Have you ever risked a belief? I see nothing particularly courageous about risking one's life. So you lose it, you go to your hero's heaven and everything is milk and honey 'til the end of time. Right? You get your reward and suffer no earthly consequences. That's not courage.
Real courage is risking something you have to keep living with. Real courage is risking something that forces you to re-think your thoughts and suffer change and stretch consciousness. Real courage is risking one's cliches.
The tone is heavy and very Churchillian, but I believe it's not so much the fear of finality in risking one's life, as the potential for physical pain. The Christian hierarchy who coined of the term auto-du-fe (and invented the machinery) specialized in keeping their victims alive to prolong the pain of slow roasting as long as possible...Might as well burn 'em good, here, given the distinct possibility hell is as imaginary as heaven.
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