A Forgotten Word

"They say that Japan was made by a sword. They say that the old Gods dipped a cold blade into the ocean, and when they pulled it out, four perfect drops fell back into the sea. And those drops became the Islands of Japan. I say, Japan was made by a handful of brave men. Warriors willing to give their lives for what seems to have become a forgotten word. Honor.” - Simon Graham 'The Last Samurai'

Honor, what is it? So few actually speak of it any longer. It is a word all but forgotten in our times. I can never remember a time when Honor was the most important thing. That to be honorable was to be something greater than any other. That to lose your honor was a fate worse than death itself. Sure, there are places where Honor is still spoken of. The Christian Bible commands you to “Honor thy father and thy Mother.” The Army commands it's soldier follow the values set forth by the Army, one of which is Honor. We must Honor agreements. Show honor to those who have achieved great things. We must always show honor, but does anyone actually understand Honor?

For the longest time I have planned to honor many people. I honor those who have come before me. Those great men and women, over 1.3 million, who have died to defend this country in its many wars. I have honored the past, learning from it, remember the wrongs that I have and others have made so as to hopefully avoid a recurrence of the wrongs that have been done. I show honor to those who have done great things by giving them the respect they deserve. Though, does that mean I truly understand what Honor is? Would I fight for it? Die for it? Live by it? I don't know.

I try to understand many things in this world. Some of them, are simply beyond my grasp, some things, we are not meant to understand and that is simply how it is to be. Though... This forgotten word. Honor. That is something I wish to understand. One of the hardest words to define, ask any person what their definition of honor is, most will take a long moment to think, and most will just spew out a text book answer they know. Heck, I cannot even think of a definition of Honor without grasping at what I know has been written in dictionaries.

To me, honor is a forgotten word with a forgotten meaning. You cannot simply give it a meaning, you must live it. You must understand what honor is in order to define it. For someone as myself who has barely begun to live his life, who has not ever seen someone who he feels is an honorable person, I cannot begin to understand what it is and what it means. I can grasp at straws, I can give corroborating definitions that someone who lives honorably does so with integrity, duty and respect. Maybe that is all Honor is, to live with the integrity to do the right thing, to perform your duty and to live respectfully. Perhaps it it the combination of those things and many more that make up Honor. Maybe it isn't. I don't know.

What I do know is this. That there was a time when Honor was all that mattered to people. Not money. Not love. Not sex. Not what their status was. All that mattered was that they lived every day with honor. That they had the discipline to do the right thing and to perfect whatever it was that they were doing in their lives. That no matter what happened, they would keep doing what they were meant to do and respect those around them. Again, maybe that is all Honor ever really was. Integrity, Duty and Respect. Maybe it was more... the world may never know as the world now may never truly care about honor.

This is my writing, and this is my soul.