Redtree Times

Carry the Blue Flag— At the Principle Gallery

Men must be able to engage in business and go to war, but leisure and peace are better; they must do what is necessary and indeed what is useful, but what is honorable is better. On such principles children and persons of every age which requires education should be trained.

–Aristotle, Politics and Poetics

How do you define honor for yourself?

A sense of fairness, truthfulness, loyalty, compassion, empathy, tolerance, and generosity of spirit — are these defining elements of honor the same for others as they are for me?

What are the principles that guide your sense of honor? Is honor a universal and singularly defined concept or does it vary from person to person or nation to nation?

Are your guiding principles carved in stone or written in the sand on the shore? Would you be willing to carve your guiding principles in stone and then live by them?

I know this might sound a little moralistic or judgmental. Or that I am preaching as to how anyone else should live. It’s not meant in that way. I just have real questions given the number of prominent people who seem to live lives with little or no honor.

Besides, I have little moral ground on which to stand. My principles were pretty shaky for the first half of my life.

However, at a certain point you realize that your true wealth in measured not in dollars and possessions but in your honor and the principles you uphold.

How much do you value your honor? Do you ever think about what principles make up your own sense of honor?

Aristotle probably had it right. The world might be much better off if children were educated on matters of honor, on principles and ethics. Maybe throw some civics lessons into the mix, as well. We’re seeing way too much evidence of the harm that people without honor or shame can do in this world.

We might all sleep better at night in a world that held honor in higher esteem than money or power.

Here’s song that deals with honor. It is from Jeremy Dutcher, a classically trained Canadian Indigenous tenor, composer, and activist. An interesting person. This song is Honor Song and Dutcher performs it in his native Wolastoq language with accompaniment from the great cellist Yo-Yo Ma.

It’s a powerful song, as it should be for something as valuable as one’s honor.

If you made it this far, thanks for hearing me…

FYI— I used the small painting at the top, Wave the Blue Flag, because the blue flag in it always reminds me of the phrase True Blue. It means honest and loyal and devoted to a sense of rightness. Honorable things all.