I am strong and confidence in the face of fear.

You don't find out on a quiet Sunday afternoon. You find out in the corridor outside the room, in the four seconds before the door opens, with your pulse somewhere up in your ears.

Strength of this kind only happens close up — not at a distance from the frightening thing and not instead of it, but near enough to see it properly with nothing in between.

Every person you would call brave has stood in that corridor feeling more or less what you feel.