Death was not his objective, just as it was not Casanova’s objective during his fast. Neither of these young men wished to die when they commenced their fasts. Instead, their intention was to change government policy on what they regarded as important matters of justice and morality. Both of these men, through their fasts, displayed enormous individual courage. Courage is a rare human attribute despite the fact that it is often wrongly ascribed to the most commonplace endeavors. Seemingly, anyone who is victimized nowadays is invariably described as courageous, which is to confuse the condition of survival with the genuine achievement of courage. Courage requires choice, not simply tenacity. The Irish revolutionary and the Vietnam veteran chose their ordeals—they were not merely victims of circumstance. Malraux, in a discussion with Saint- Exupery, once dismissed courage as “ a curious and banal consequence of the feeling of invulnerability.” The courage exhibited by a soldier, say, who rushed to confront his adversary may indeed be an impulsive act that flows from a feeling of being invulnerable. But this was certainly not the case with Sands or Casanova who deliberate ly denied themselves nourishment inside their cages. It was inconceivable for them to feel they were invulnerable as they watched their health 12 e was not unlike Kafka's hunger artist who occasionally stretched out an arm through the bar of his small cage so that a member of the audience could feel how thin it had become and marvel at the artistry of his accomplishment. ■ deteriorate day after day, their bodies becoming reduced to skin and bone. These two men had consciously risked their dignity and their well-being for something other than themselves, which is the essence of courage. Within a mouth after he had ended his fast, however, Casanova announced he was preparing to commence another fast. He decided to return to his roadside cage after hearing that the Secret Service had recommended that President Reagan not meet with him, as the President had earlier promised, because of the veteran’s criminal record. Seething, he hoped to compel the President to meet with him or else he would starve himself to death. This decision confused some of his supporters. Casanova, by making the public at large aware of the plight of the missing American servicemen and thereby receiving the pledge of the adm inistration to strengthen its efforts to resolve this matter, had achieved the objectives of his long fast inside his cage. There was no plausible reason to return there. What had before seemed a noble and courageous sacrifice of his dignity and health now threatened to become a spectacle that did not evoke the memory of the Irish revolutionary Sands but of the hunger artist in the Kafka short story. Courage demands that a person risk himself for something other than his own gratification or pride. The purpose behind Casanova’s threat to return to his cage had scarcely anything to do with courage, but seemed to be only a demand for continued public attention. He had become something of a celebrity because of his previous confinement, and apparently he was not willing to relinquish the modicum of celebrityhood he had achieved. Indeed, he was not unlike Kafka’s hunger artist who occasionally stretched out an arm through the bar of his small cage so that a member of the audience could feel how thin it had become and marvel at the artistry of his accomplishment. His desire to return to his cage was not the act of a courageous man any longer but of a performer demanding the attention of his audience. The cage was his home, his circle of light, (Ie was someone there. Writer T.R. Healey lives in Portland. This is his first story in CSQ. Artist Jack McLarty recently illustrated the chapbookEncounters With The White Train, a story by Andy Robinson that first appeared in CSQ. Our Anniversary Sale is Just in Time for Your Christmas Paradigm Speakers Harman Kardon Receiver Teac Compact Disc Player Our Anniversary System Reduced $166 now $799 This group of components offers sensible features and unusually high performance at a moderate cost. To our ears, the Paradigm 5e speakers sound as good a^ anything at twice the price. The Harman Kardon 385i complements the speakers perfectly: this receiver really performs when the standard practice is to hide poor sound with lots of features. 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