What Does The Phrase "Grasp The Nettle"� Mean?

This has become a proverb, but it originated in one of Aesop's fables. A small boy stood looking at a bank on which grew dozens of lush green nettles. He had been warned that they had a painful sting; and yet they looked so pretty and harmless, it was hard to believe. At last he put out a timid finger and stroked the leaf of the nettle nearest to him. Immediately he felt a sharp pain, and ran crying to his mother.

"I only stroked the nettle, " he said, "and yet it's stung me!" His hand was covered in white blisters. His mother laughed and put some soothing ointment on it. "A nettle, she explained, "will always sting you if you treat it gently. You must grasp it boldly in your whole hand, and then it can't harm you."

The usual message of this story is that unpleasant or threatening situations should be approached boldly.