Honor in life is a driving force, both internal and external, to the individuals feelings, their behavior and the way they are treated. Honor expresses an evaluation of self in the terms which are used to evaluate others, or as others evaluate. It also can represent the values of the group one belongs to. Honor can become a fact rather than a sentiment and refers to the behavior of the individual or group of individuals. Honor can be related this way:

Honor felt becomes honor claimed and honor claimed becomes honor paid.

To receive an honor involves the expression of respect and gratitude which a person earns by virtue of a particular event, such as a guest in a ceremony or the skill which entitles one to status and rank. These titles of rank can be expressed through visual aids on uniforms or as salutes of a prescribed order indicating the honored individual.

One also can claim what one has not achieved as honor. Honor is a vehicle that people use to compete for reputation and can be the way an individual views themselves, or as the world views them. To be shamed is to be denied honor, if one lives a world of honor.

Where does honor originate? From God or from the individual? From a group of kinsmen, from those who make and control the law, or from the publicHonor converts rank and title into prestige and then status. Concepts of honor vary greatly from society to society, depending on the particular group of people and the accumulation of their deeds. Some feel honor as a personal responsibility to validate self-defense, which in some circles could be unlawful.

Honor is felt as well as demonstrated. It is a state of grace. It is libel to defilement. It is linked to to the physical person with symbolic functions of the body: to the blood, the heart, the hand, the head and the genitalia. Honor is sometimes secured through the shedding of blood and that has a special value in transacting honor, i.e. "The stains of honor" it is said, "could only be cleansed with blood."

Medieval society was ranked in terms of honor from the aristocracy who had the most because of their power, valor and proximity to the king, to those who had none at all, the heretics, outcasts and criminals.

Eastern philosophy does not rely on any position of power and wealth to dictate one's honor. Honor then becomes a personal identity.

The criteria by which honor is bestowed has changed somewhat through time. In some societies, occupation and religious orthodoxy were once important. Although titles can no longer be purchased, one can still buy a Black Belt in some martial arts systems. Again wealth can buy power.

All in all, power and money cannot buy dignity, self esteem or integrity.

Personal honor becomes a private thing, but your life will be scrutinized by your peers. Spiritual value takes priority over a physical determination of the defense of one's honor. Honor becomes a predetermined state of being that depicts a person's lifestyle and position of status and rank demonstrated in life's everyday occupation and action. Honorable acts in today's society have become fewer and fewer.

In some societies, one's word is one's sacred honor. As a Martial Artist, honor becomes a perpetuation of one's life-style and where one wishes to go in life. Respect and dignity in one's self becomes the foundation to create honor.

  Michael Robert Pick