Not Diminishable

Amusing kerfuffle over this picture:

To those uptight about seeming misapplication of the term? Get over yourself.

Here's the thing about being "brave" or exhibiting "bravery": to reduce it to its most basic meaning, all that bravery is, is taking an action when you fear the consequences that action might bring to you or those you care about. It doesn't really matter the scale of the consequences. Nor does it even really matter the likelihood of those consequences. The degree to which those consequences are likely and/or the scale of those consequences don't impact whether or not the action undertaken was brave.

While there are degrees of bravery, any given brave act isn't diminishable. Least of all is one act of bravery diminishable by another act of bravery. At the very worst, two acts of bravery establish a relative scale. At the best, bravery being common improves the world as a whole.