The Gift of Honor

Positive Pensées

Kathy King

“Honor is the reward of virtue”

Cicero

The Gift of Honor

Honor.

Valor.

Depth.

Respect.

Kindness.

Empathy.

A sense of something better than self.

Are these words that we hear today?

I would wager if you spend any time reading, most of the zeitgeist conveys.

Me! Me! Me!

My! My! My!

What if, in an act of great empathy, take a moment and try…

To try to find a sense of something bigger than yourself.

Try prayer, try going to church.  

Trying to understand what other people feel.

Honor. It means to have great respect.

To adhere to common kindness with no expectations or regret. 

After all dear readers, when you are kind and show grace.

Those acts return to you in a multitude of ways. 

I was just thinking about honor.  I was a captive audience to a news show earlier.  They were discussing a number of things.  Politics was the chief topic amongst them.  I am not here to sway any person’s political leanings.  That is completely in your purview.  What struck me was the disrespect or lack of honor for the other person’s opinion that they were trying to express.  Well, trying while yelling over one another.  That is probably why I stopped watching television news quite some time ago.  I couldn’t get over the lack of honor that was so blatantly put on display.  There is a meme that goes around periodically that says, “Turn off the TV and go love your neighbor.” I have to think that is absolutely true.  Have you ever looked at the dictionary definitions of the word honor?  It means: regard with great respect.  Fulfill an agreement. Adherence to what is right or to a conventional standard of conduct.  Are there folks who earn disrespect??  Absolutely.  This is not an all or nothing kind of concept.  But what if we decide to be an example of honor to those around us?  Even when it is difficult.  I read a lot of stories about the Medal of Honor Recipients.  My goodness, some of those stories are just almost unbelievable.  One such story is of Naval Commander Donald A. Gary.  A person who had very little education.  One year of High School to be exact.  He joined the Navy at sixteen years old!  Gary served many years and in many roles in the Navy.  He almost decided to retire but WWII began.  In 1945 Gary was part of a group of ships that were fighting in the Pacific theater.  At this point, Gary was 42 years old.  One awful morning their ship was attacked.  There were 31 fully armed and fueled planes that were hit.  This hit destroyed the flight deck and caused 126 other explosions.  Gary was not killed, nor the ship’s Medical staff and many other sailors were still alive.  He knew he had to spring into action.  He somehow managed to find an oxygen mask and crawled through the darkness and smoke and found a way to safety.  He went back not one, not two, but three times.  He saved three hundred people.  Even after finding a way out, he rallied the men to keep putting out fires until they could be rescued.  When asked what gave him so much courage he would always have an extremely humble answer.  He mainly wished that he had thought of a way out sooner.  He was given the Medal of Honor by President Truman in 1947.  He served in the Navy until 1950.  What a story, right?  He did have a ship named in his honor a frigate USS Gary.  It was decommissioned in 1984.  Do we have to be that brave?  Probably not.  But could we gain an ounce of wisdom from Gary’s honor?  Absolutely.  Care for your fellow humans.  Respect differing opinions with honor.  Respect different life choices with honor.  The list could be endless.  In the words of Abraham Lincoln, “Do not worry when you are not recognized, but strive to be worthy of recognition.”

source:defense.gov