Thursday, January 28, 2010

Wisdom from the past

"A wise and frugal Government which shall leave men free to regulate their own pursuits of industry ….and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned…" Thomas Jefferson

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Honor,

Honor: 1. Honesty Fairness, or Integrity in one's beliefs and actions: A man of Honor
2: A source of credit or distinction: To be an honor to one's family

Not many people these days think of honor, integrity or character. In todays life it is too easy to just let your principles go, to flex and sway and not be held to inconvenient and rigid set of rules imposed by Honor, integrity of character.

Everyone seems to think they are honorable, and yet blithely go on their merry way, just doing whatever is easiest to get along. There are a myriad ways we compromise our honor....

Plotting together to embarrass, harass or inconvenience someone who has views we disagree with using the excuse that this person or that person "Deserves it" because they are annoying or pushy. When in point of fact, if one has honor, one does not sneak and connive and plot with excuses like "He/she" deserves it. Honor compels us to conduct ourselves honorably despite the circumstances. While we may fail to meet the challenge, if we make our best effort to follow through with honorable and dignified action our honor remains in tact.

Promising to do something, trivial or substantial brings forth our honor in other ways. If one promises to do things with no intent of following through, one is then a liar, if one promises to do a thing and fails in an honest effort, honor is intact but attempts to do better must be employed, or honor is lost. Making excuses that one did not follow through on one's promise because of action X, Y or Z by another party is disingenuous and is a loss of honor, because the acts of another have no bearing on your promise, unless it was stipulated in the promise.

Honor, is tied to one's word, and integrity and trust, when one diminishes one's honor, there can be no trust, even those who conspire against others will lose honor amongst themselves, as if they can dismiss their honor to plot together against another, what then is to prevent the one from plotting against his former conspirators?

Probably not as deep and profound as I wanted to get, but time limitations prevent me from being more clear.

(edited for grammar and punctuation)