Your post about courage reminded me about a valuable experience I had when I was 21 yrs old.
I was attending U.S. Army Airborne School in Ft. Benning, GA. We just finished our 4th jump and I was packing my chute. I looked up to watch the next pass from the C-130 and just as I looked up I saw two tangled jumpers. They did not glide down slowly. Their chutes were tangled and they fell very fast. They bounced about 15 feet after hitting the ground.
Well, in case you didn't know, to graduate jump school you have to jump 5 times. We had to jump again within about an hour and a half. It was tough. I learned something about myself that day. I carry it with me every day.
I've never in my everyday life experienced something that intense since then. I've never experienced stress like that again. Everything else seems pretty insignificant.
Also, as an aside, before attending airborne school I had never even been in an airplane.