Honor Throughout Time and Culture
From an infinitely remote time in the past, a notion of honor was once conceived. During the course of history this idea of honor has been transformed to compliment the needs of many cultures and many people. In its simplest form honor is defined as being seen as righteous and admirable by oneself and by others. This simple idea of honor is visibly exhibited in General MacArthur’s Thayer Award Speech of 1962 – “Duty, Honor, Country” as he described the American soldier, “But when I think of his patience in adversity of his courage under fire and of his modesty in victory, I am filled with an emotion of admiration I cannot put into words” (MacArthur).This excerpt unmistakably exhibits MacArthur’s view that honor is being patient, courageous, and beholden upon triumph. Not only does General MacArthur show that honor is …show more content…
This is explained by Frank Stewart, author of the novel Horizontal and Vertical Honor, “honor comes increasingly to be based on the possession of certain moral virtues” (Stewart).This outlook expressed by Mr. Stewart openly confirms that today the qualities of a person are equivalent to the amount of honor deserved. This outlook is a distant echo from some of the first perceptions of honor. Next, the previously mentioned writer Brett McKay declares, “But in the evolution of honor, it did not just become premised on moral virtues, it also became completely private – every man could create his own, personal honor code, and only he himself could judge whether or not he was living up to it” (McKay).Today, the definition of honor now varies from person to person. Each individual decides if he is living up to his definition of honor. It seems today’s view of honor barely resembles the notion of honor in the past. Not only does honor vary greatly over time, honor can also vary between
From an infinitely remote time in the past, a notion of honor was once conceived. During the course of history this idea of honor has been transformed to compliment the needs of many cultures and many people. In its simplest form honor is defined as being seen as righteous and admirable by oneself and by others. This simple idea of honor is visibly exhibited in General MacArthur’s Thayer Award Speech of 1962 – “Duty, Honor, Country” as he described the American soldier, “But when I think of his patience in adversity of his courage under fire and of his modesty in victory, I am filled with an emotion of admiration I cannot put into words” (MacArthur).This excerpt unmistakably exhibits MacArthur’s view that honor is being patient, courageous, and beholden upon triumph. Not only does General MacArthur show that honor is …show more content…
This is explained by Frank Stewart, author of the novel Horizontal and Vertical Honor, “honor comes increasingly to be based on the possession of certain moral virtues” (Stewart).This outlook expressed by Mr. Stewart openly confirms that today the qualities of a person are equivalent to the amount of honor deserved. This outlook is a distant echo from some of the first perceptions of honor. Next, the previously mentioned writer Brett McKay declares, “But in the evolution of honor, it did not just become premised on moral virtues, it also became completely private – every man could create his own, personal honor code, and only he himself could judge whether or not he was living up to it” (McKay).Today, the definition of honor now varies from person to person. Each individual decides if he is living up to his definition of honor. It seems today’s view of honor barely resembles the notion of honor in the past. Not only does honor vary greatly over time, honor can also vary between