Honor, the First Step

My mother and I were talking today. She mentioned a young man, relative to her age--not mine, across the highway who has been coming over every day and helping her with the chores on the farm. This man had worked hard his entire life with the words of his mother ringing in his ears, "Your pride is in your work."

When his wife left him, it was because she had gambled everything away. He'd made a good living over the years, worked hard and promptly turned his paycheck over to his wife who paid the bills and gambled the rest away. He built dams all over the American West, and when work died out, that's when he found out what happened. When the money was no longer flowing in, she didn't have gambling money anymore, so she took their daughter and left.

It was a broken man who came to the aid of my sweet, sweet mother. Over the next few months, my mother became his surrogate mother. They had long talks as they worked on the farm. As they talked, my mother told him the first thing he had to come to understand was: Honor.

Honor is defined by www.dictionary.com as:

...honesty, fairness, or integrity in one's beliefs and actions: a man of honor.

This prompted several hours of thought and contemplation in me today. Oh, I did the radio show and I talked with people I needed to talk with. I came home, took a 60 minute nap. Got up, did laundry, dishes, etc. But in the back of mind, I thought about honor and why my mother felt it so important.

One of the lessons I remember from my mother was this: I know you children fight here at home. But when you are out in the world, you will stand back to back, always.

These words came back to me over and over. Honor can be displayed in so many ways. We honor that family unit which became our family. We do stand with one another. We honor the wishes of our mother, in that we do all we can to uphold one another and never make her ashamed of her children.

The Founding Fathers dedicated "our Lives, our Fortunes and our Sacred Honor" to the creation of, and building up, of the United States of America. Their sacred honor comprised putting their names, fortunes, reputations on the line, fighting in the Revolutionary War, sometimes against all hope, and serving in their newly formed government. It meant they would sacrifice all they had to that cause, but do so with honor, courage, and a strength unparalleled in the world's history.

"All the great things are simple, and many can be expressed in a single word: freedom, justice, honor, duty, mercy, hope." ~Winston Churchill

To me, honor in one's self is displayed when one has a true north. True north is marked clearly on any compass. Metaphorically, it means your principles, values and beliefs are so firmly rooted they cannot be swayed or influenced. It means you stand for what you believe in, regardless the cost. It means you honor your responsibilities as a daughter, sister, wife, aunt, friend, co-worker ... and for my family, as an American.

Honor is truly intertwined with God, for it is that godly virtue instilled in us that provides the seeds for honor to grow and blossom into that which is wielded in the hands of a good man or woman, and, should never be extinguished. It is something which shines forth unto a shaken world, simply stating, "I am a man/woman of honor. I will not defile it. I will not smother it. I will not betray it. My sacred honor is just that, sacred, and I will not turn my back on that which God expects of me."

A person of honor is one who can be trusted to always stand for what is right, to always do the right thing. A person of honor is one who charges into battle, never counting the cost. A person of honor simply is, the one all turn to in times of crisis, for they can be trusted to never lead astray.

I honor my God by who I am. I honor my mother by being the daughter she raised me to be. I honor my husband by being faithful, and carefully nurturing that love between us. I honor my nation by standing for the U.S. Constitution, the American flag, and never giving up, regardless of the cost.

I can see why my mother felt it so important to have honor instilled in each of her children. And so I ask you, what is honor to you? I would love to know, because I know it is much bigger than what I have written here.

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Copyright 2011. All rights reserved by Candace E. Salima.