On the NPR TED Radio Hour, Sunday 26th July, Newstalk FM

'Courage':

What does it mean to be courageous? Is it an automatic response or a conscious choice? 

Margaret Heffernan talks about the danger of "willful blindness" and praises ordinary people who are willing to speak up.

She claims willful blindness exists on epic scales, such as the banking collapse, but also on smaller scales. Studies have found that 85% of staff in global companies say there are issues in their working day but yet they fail to ever raise them.

"If you don't speak up, everything will stay the same." 

Courage in War

Reporter Janine di Giovanni has covered countless wars, including conflict in Bosnia, Sierra Leone and most recently Syria. 

While courage is an important characteristic in her line of work, enabling her desire to run to places where people are desperate to get out of, she claims real courage lies in "ordinary people confronted with real evil."

Janine talks about what she experienced during the Siege of Sarajevo during the Bosnian war in the early 1990's. "Even in the midst of terrible destruction, death and chaos, ordinary people helped their neighbours, shared food, raised their children, dragged someone who was being snipped at out from the middle of the road."   

Janine acknowledges that while war is devastating, it also brings out extraordinary power in people to do the right thing.

Defending the rule of Law

Sharing cases from her international legal practice, Kimberley Motley, an American litigator practicing in Afghanistan, shows how a country's own laws can bring both justice and "justness." 

Kimberley references a particular case from Afghanistan where a 6 year old girl was betrothed to a 21 year old man in order to settle a debt. She explains the risks involved in arguing a foreign case.    

Whistleblower

Doctors in the US don't have to tell patients about conflicts of interest, in fact, a New England medical journal paper found that 94% of doctors have some affiliation with drug companies.

When physician Leana Wen asked her fellow doctors to open up about their associations, the reaction she got was frightening. 

 Listen back to the TED Radio Hour 'Courage' here.