I used to say that we ought to bring back dueling, with every single person trained and armed for both foil and sabre. Then I changed my mind. Now, well, let me show you how I came back upon this line of thinking today:
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Here is a comment on honor from an earlier lifetime:
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Originally posted 06/28/2008 17:26:00
on my old LJ:
thoughts about honor as part of becoming an Adult…
I was just thinking back on how Joe suggested to me a few years ago that I should write a book on my personal ideas on honor, since they’re not based on religion and many people are seeking a non-theistic moral framework. I’m still not sure that i am the best person to write such a book, but I did write up some ideas and a whimsical set of my own ‘10 commandments‘ a while ago. I’ll have to find the link to that post sometime.
Anyway, I was reflecting on one book I read back when I was at the Naval Academy (I think all the plebes in 2nd co. were ordered to read it, certainly our youngsters talked about it with us, but I think the 2nd classmen, class of ’90, were the ones who were really big on the book for some reason. I think that the book was published in ’86, which is when they would have started plebe summer…). I told my manager at BBN (lady named C. I think -had some cool coworkers at BBN, products of the 60’s like B. I think, too…) that there was nothing for me to learn from the USNA experience and she told me to think about it some more. Well, I see that she was right. But it’s only just coming into being, this lesson. It needs to finish germinating but I can already see the seed of an idea, the lessons to be learned. Amazing that it can take 20 years almost to learn these lessons. My own sense of honor back at that time demanded that I stand up to upperclassmen telling me to be gung-ho about unneccessry killing and singing cadences about napalm sticking to kids. The upperclassman decided that I was too squeamish to be in ‘his’ navy.
Sorry for this ramble.
anyway, thinking on this book I read back then, “A Sense of Honor” brought me to some comments about honor, and this one was particularly interesting. He feels honor is a ‘better’ man’s morality, but I see that as a bit snobbish personally. I prefer to see honor as a way of living that upholds the dignity of all.
Anyway, my flatmate is back, and I’ve bought us donuts to eat before Dr. Who comes on.
with love to all good people,
Peace,
Shir.
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So, it turns out that all those psych tests we took on Induction Day should indeed have been turned over to us, at some point. I suppose I could do a FOIA request, but you’d think that I’d have been sent the results of my own testing, when I got my DD214, perhaps? And as for having a sense of honor, when we were expected to glorify death and destruction merely for its own sake, yet not consider the legality of the orders we would be passing on to our subordinates, I think that having a personal sense of honor is crucial. The lessons of Nuremberg seem to have been ignored or forgotten, and now, even the lessons of the Holocaust seem to be undone, as I watch many of my fellow Americans demand that our most sacred right, that of having our votes counted, be denied. I feel more disappointed now than I did at the Naval Academy. I’d thought that we were better than this, but from Hurricane Katrina to now, I see that we still have much more work to do, to see each other as human beings, and to build a collective sense of honor, based on the dignity of each person having been formed in the image of our possibly non-existent but still very much needed creator. To, in short, actually be adults.
More on my continuing striving with adulthood next time, friends:
Yassas, γεια σας! Salût ! Nos vemos! Görüşürüz! ! שָׁלוֹם
Action Items in support of hope for Honor that you can take right now:
1.) Search for two different ways to explain how you define the word Honor.
2.) Share them with us in the comments, here, please.
3.) Write a blog post or tweet that uses the word Honor, tells a good story, and makes a difference. I’m working on that through my historical fantasy #WiP, #WhoByFireIWill. Once published, donate one or more copies to your local public library, as I intend to do.
Dear Readers, any additional ideas toward learning, especially multiple #LanguageLearning as part of on-going education and empathy-building, to #EndPoverty, #EndHomelessness, #EndMoneyBail & achieve freedom for All HumanKind?
Support our key #PublicDomainInfrastructure & #StopSmoking for CCOVID-19:
1. #PublicLibraries,
2. #ProBono legal aid and Education,
3. #UniversalHealthCare, and
4. good #publictransport
Read, Write
, Ranked Choice Voting and Housing for ALL!!, Teach and Learn (Lesson Plans)!
NaNoWriMo 2020 CE
November, 2020 CE = 12020 HE
(The previous lesson plan since this post, and the most recent lesson plan…)
Ranger Mayann 