The Power of Honorability ‘Honorable’ is one of the most meaningful and powerful connotations in today’s society. To have honor is to have the utmost respect and privilege, to be responsible and proud. Honorability has vast amounts of definitions within each culture and period of time. Honor is a word that has often been coincided with the idea of masculinity throughout time; men dueling to defend their honor back in the 20th century was not uncommon. It’s quite obvious that along with many other ideas and customs, the definition of honor has changed broadly and contrasts greatly to the conception of the word in the past. Not only has the difference in honorability increased over time, but it is also evident in different cultures and civilizations.
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Although, it is not always attained by war, it is nevertheless just as valuable. As of the summer 2015, Caitlyn Jenner, widely known and popular in the media, won an award much to many people’s dismay; she won the Arthur Ashe Courage Award at the 2015 ESPYs. The fact that someone in modern day can win award for courage and honor for becoming transgendered is of major importance to a large population. It is evident that the way honor is defined is surely changing for the better. Jerome H. Neyrey, author of Honor and Shame, writes “Honour is the value of a person in his own eyes, but also in the eyes of his society. It is his estimation of his own worth, his claim to pride, but it is also the acknowledgment of that claim, his excellence recognized by society, his right to pride” (Neyrey). This infers that as a society, it must be decided whether someone should have the right to the title of …show more content…
American honor, despite new changes, has always had something to do with defending your loved ones and your country in many situations. The United States military risk their lives every single day in order to keep their fellow citizens safe. To them, the most honorable death is to happen while fighting for the rights of this country. General MacArthur, in the cadets of the U.S. Military Academy accepted the Sylvanus Thayer Award on 12 May 1962. He gave a memorable speech involving the concept of what is is to have honor. He stated “Duty, honor, country: Those three hallowed words reverently dictate what you ought to be, what you can be, what you will be. They are your rallying point to build courage when courage seems to fail, to regain faith when there seems to be little cause for faith, to create hope when hope becomes forlorn” (MacArthur). Honorability is extremely important and meaningful, it can encourage anyone to do better and persevere. However, this is not the case in many other cultures. An example of this is Japanese kamikaze pilots. Takehiko Ena, one of the pilots who participated in such actions spoke about his experience in The Gaurdian’s article, ‘The Last Kamikaze: Two Japanese Pilots Tell How They Cheated Death’. “We made ourselves believe that we had been chosen to make this sacrifice. I just wanted to protect the father and mother I loved. And we were all
Although, it is not always attained by war, it is nevertheless just as valuable. As of the summer 2015, Caitlyn Jenner, widely known and popular in the media, won an award much to many people’s dismay; she won the Arthur Ashe Courage Award at the 2015 ESPYs. The fact that someone in modern day can win award for courage and honor for becoming transgendered is of major importance to a large population. It is evident that the way honor is defined is surely changing for the better. Jerome H. Neyrey, author of Honor and Shame, writes “Honour is the value of a person in his own eyes, but also in the eyes of his society. It is his estimation of his own worth, his claim to pride, but it is also the acknowledgment of that claim, his excellence recognized by society, his right to pride” (Neyrey). This infers that as a society, it must be decided whether someone should have the right to the title of …show more content…
American honor, despite new changes, has always had something to do with defending your loved ones and your country in many situations. The United States military risk their lives every single day in order to keep their fellow citizens safe. To them, the most honorable death is to happen while fighting for the rights of this country. General MacArthur, in the cadets of the U.S. Military Academy accepted the Sylvanus Thayer Award on 12 May 1962. He gave a memorable speech involving the concept of what is is to have honor. He stated “Duty, honor, country: Those three hallowed words reverently dictate what you ought to be, what you can be, what you will be. They are your rallying point to build courage when courage seems to fail, to regain faith when there seems to be little cause for faith, to create hope when hope becomes forlorn” (MacArthur). Honorability is extremely important and meaningful, it can encourage anyone to do better and persevere. However, this is not the case in many other cultures. An example of this is Japanese kamikaze pilots. Takehiko Ena, one of the pilots who participated in such actions spoke about his experience in The Gaurdian’s article, ‘The Last Kamikaze: Two Japanese Pilots Tell How They Cheated Death’. “We made ourselves believe that we had been chosen to make this sacrifice. I just wanted to protect the father and mother I loved. And we were all