Honor is a wide term, commonly thrown around in order to increase the percieved importance of the object it adjectates (describes; I made up that word). Many times honor is thought of as a palpable reward, something to be achieved by committing an act of great importance like earning the postition of valedictorian at school for unsurpassed diligence in studies within an entire grade of students, or someone is given a medal for a feat of bravery or sustaining a wound within the field of war. Another commonly used frame of the word 'Honor' can describe a person as famous or as a leading figure in a speciic group or population. Many times this form of honor comes about when a person has a high reputation due to the earning of various other honors throughout the course of the person's life. It is not with these form of honor, however, that concern a person the most; the last type of honor concerns the frame of mind a person holds.
The entire span of a person's life is dictated by the person's unique mentality, whether it be honorable or not, and it would not be too distant to say that the choices a person makes each day are affected by how that person thinks. If one could observe people of diverse natures and qualitatively analyze their actions, one will most likely be able to open one's own eyes to their own faults and strengths. If one sees a mother and a child at a grocery store checkout line, and the child repeatedly asks the frazzled mother for a candybar in a falsely desperate tone, one could tell that no matter the outcome (whether or not he achieves his candybar), the child has the fault of using lies and deciet to acquire immediate gratification. On the other side of the potato, mental processes may be a bit more complex; consider this scenario:
Rufio is a junior in high school that doesn't have very many friends. One might say that he doesn't spend much time "wangin' around with his homies." In a bizarre circumstance, Rufio gets asked to join some of his schoolmates in a social occasion, or 'party.' After Rufio has been there a while he discovers there are a few of his classmates in a back room consuming alcohol. Rufio is hailed by his less-than-sober but popular classmates and quickly comes up with an excuse to leave the room. After joining the rest of the party and putting further consideration into the matter of the illegal drinking, Rufio re-enters the unsanctified room and politely admonishes the drinkers for their sins(haha, politely admonish). He then proceeds to leave the entire party and spend the rest of his evening reading Jane Eyre, because there is absolutly no time to read it when you're forced to read it as a senior. Rufio does not tell anybody about the party, and the party was never busted. Rufio also never discovers if his chastizing worked or not.
Rufio's problem has many more influencing factors than the situation in the grocery store. Rufio's mind may be splitting several ways; a desire to be popular, a need to impress his superiors (adults), a stubborn innocence, an aversion to attention, and a fright of being a rat all pull his him towards different decisions. There is significance in his decision to come back to the room and telling off his classmates by the fact that he summons the willpower to resist. There is also significance in his choosing to not inform an authority figure of the drinking, but whether or not that is honorable differs with one's own vision of honor. In the end Rufio will never know the extent of the impact of his decision in his life.
Pardon my brevity, but in my view, honor is intangible. Honor comes from the heart. And honor can be scared out of its pants. Please do the right thing or you'll make me sweat.
Last updated 11-13-04
Leadership
Boils down to the difference between management, and setting an example and taking the plunge. Leaders don't try to be one or go to workshops to learn how to be one. Leaders lead, you follow and shut up.
Last updated 11-13-04
Copyright Threat
Everything here was written by Peter Brandt in the year 2004. These ideas came out of his head, these fine sentences were produced by his grammatical skills, and he is very well respected for his work, so don't you dare plaigiarize!