1. High respect, as that shown for special merit; esteem: the honor shown to a Nobel laureate.
2. Good name; reputation.

 

"A life spent making mistakes is not only more honorable, but more useful than a life spent doing nothing." - George Bernard Shaw

Are you honorable? Do you know what it means? Is it an anachronism, something we speak about when talking about knights in shining armor? Or is it merely something distant from ourselves, something only for marines and fire fighters?

Lois McMaster Bujold once said, "Reputation is what other people know about you. Honor is what you know about yourself."

That brings honor home to us, within our control. Sure, someone else can know but for the most part all they know about is those bits and pieces they choose to hear and see, interpretation is left up to their own psyches.

Thousands of years ago Socrates wrote, "The greatest way to live with honor in this world is to be what we pretend to be." Another way to say the same thing is that to live with honor we must be true to ourselves. By being true to ourselves we are true to everyone around us. Such a life is one of honesty and integrity.

How to become honorable?

John Ruskin prescribed the following: "In every person who comes near you look for what is good and strong, honor that; try to imitate it, and your faults will drop off like dead leaves when their time comes."

Who can we look to? Look around. Find a parent, a friend, a child, a coworker, anyone you see that lives with honesty, integrity, sincerity, and resilience. These people "fight the good fight" and have solutions to problems that we would find ourselves trapped in. These are our teachers, especially in terms of honor.

"The difference between a moral man and a man of honor is that the latter regrets a discreditable act, even when it has worked and he has not been caught." - H. L. Mencken