Modern Day Honor

Honor is a word tossed around a lot these days.  When you are a child the good knight has honor and the evil wizard or soldier has none.  As you get older you read about the samurai who lived by a strict code of honor for their entire lives and the renegade ronin who were considered forsaken for abandoning that honor.  No matter your upbringing there are very few places, if any, that allow you to live by the sword.  So how does a person have honor in todays society?

I consider many people honorable.  My father has fulfilled all of his obligations in life and is a pillar of the community he lives in.  Everyone relies on him and likes him as a person.  Is that honor?

My boss is a man who helps many people.  We constantly take on jobs with no charge, because the people need our services.  We drop tons of debt and ask for no fee  for these services so we can save jobs and financial lives.  Is that honor?

Our soldiers have rules of war.  They do not shoot until fired upon.  They leave family and friends to slog through hell where everyone and everything may want to kill you, all for an ideal of what is right and what freedom means.  Is that honor?

You may have answered yes to all or none of these scenarios.  I personally think it breaks down to a much simpler format.  I believe honor is living your life by a set of rules that define who you are and who you want to be and not trying to force anyone else to live by those rules.  You know what you feel is right or wrong.  Forcing someone else to live by your particular code reduces your honor to an arbitrary set of rules.  Many people no longer live a life as cut and dry as the Samurai, but everyone has the opportunity to live honorably.  Respect your honor in life and in your business.