By Dr. Dencio S Acop (Ret. Col)
Honor! It is a big word! But today, honor is mouthed around as if it was candy! I have to tell you though that there are still people who live by it in its truest sense even if there’s a lot fewer of them left around. If we look up its definition, honor is defined in so many different ways that we actually lose sense of what it really is. I must say though that being steeped in the traditional ways of the military and mainstream Christianity, I believe honor is not to be taken lightly and must be used with the utmost caution when referring to it in discourse. Some sources define honor as a “strong sense of ethical conduct, integrity, and commitment to doing what is right, often manifested through honesty, loyalty, and keeping one’s promises, essentially acting in a way that upholds one’s personal and societal values, even when faced with challenges; it is considered a key component of a strong moral character”. This discourse argues three key points touched on by the definition which are inviolable lest honor becomes something else altogether descending upon what it is certainly not. The first point is that honor is a commitment not even death can extinguish. When the military was being professionalized, honor stood out as an indispensable character trait of the professional soldier. Soldiers, distinct from other professionals, are bound to kill other human beings. They belong to the lot who are trained on how best to take a life. But the only way professional soldiers can kill (or be killed) is through a qualitative sense of honor. Once a soldier kills illegally and immorally, he loses that sense of honor forever. He ceases to be a soldier. And once he violates the code, he is no longer a man of honor. Compare the professional soldier just described to any human being who practices lying, cheating, stealing, or tolerating such and you can probably begin to understand the true meaning of honor.
The second point is that honor is not a punchline but a solemn principle men and women of honor live by day in and day out. It is best captured by the real-life examples of individuals who practice it no matter what the odds, when no one is looking, or good deeds need be done even in the face of one’s enemies. It is epitomized by the husband who did not cheat on his wife even when the opportunity presented itself. It is illustrated by the parent who refused the offer of fraud as a means to bring food to the table to feed the children. It is manifested by the honest worker who refused to cheat the clock or doctor the log books in order to get promoted or earn dishonest living. It is in the selfless action of every decent man or woman who shuns selfish ambition if the cost of pursuing it was his or her soul. It is in the constant faithfulness of God’s shepherds in tending the flock so desired by the faithful which in no small way helps keep them faithful followers of Christ themselves. It is seen in the honest and fearless politician or general who fears God more than man. And it is in those of us who can face the mirror each day and say: “We did our best good today. We hurt no one. We tried to love the best way we could. We are grateful to be alive today for each and every day is a gift. We forgive those who hurt us. Even as we try to forgive ourself. Now we ask God for His mercy and grace. Amen.”
Finally, honor is the first effective solution to the world’s biggest problems which can never be resolved without it. Of course, honor is not easy. It takes time, a lot of sweat, and even blood and tears. Honor is the reason why people need education and the right kind. Honor is not necessarily inborn so people need to be taught it from home, school, and church. Relatively, it is a pity when some people remain uneducated or educated without learning the value of honor. There is, indeed, a culture of excellence that honor requires from generation to generation. This is the reason why grandparents all the way to their grandchildren need to develop the wisdom that fundamentally values honor. Honor is the seed that grows to maturity and if it is the right kind that grows, then the world will be better off for it. If it is truly honorable men and women who fill the halls of executive and legislative power, then we might expect the right kinds of public policies that serve the greatest good for the greatest number. If the separation between church and state was instead joined by the foundational value of honor which knows no bounds to the common good, then perhaps the world would not be where it is today. Then maybe, just maybe, we parents and grandparents can sleep better at night knowing that our children and grandchildren will have a future better than we did.
