To me, honor is an interesting concept that I struggle with to this day. I certainly have a personal code of honor that I try and live by, but sometimes it is difficult, and part of my code is to try and not stray from my morals and what I believe in. My moral and honor code has certainly changed over time, but now I believe I have found something I can live by. Though it may sound cliché, reading Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged definitely changed my life, and though I do not take the book as dogma (which I believe she did not mean for anyone to do and the misinterpretation of this is why many think of her as insane), I did take a lot from my interpretation of her book.
One quote in particular, “I swear by my life and my love of it that I will never live for the sake of another man, nor ask another man to live for mine” (Ayn Rand, 731) represents the way I try to live to be honorable. This does not mean that I don’t care about other people. In fact, there are a few people in my life that I care about enough to die for, but not to live for. To be an honorable man, I feel as if I must live for myself, and always follow my goals and dreams, and never subvert myself to another person. The other half of the quote though, is equally as important to me. As much as my honor is contingent on living for myself, I also would never feel as if I had any honor if I didn’t respect other’s right to the same thing. I expect my opinions to be listened to, but I give equal attention to the opinions of others. Also, just because I may not agree with someone, does nit make them an inferior person in any respect. Part of being honorable is respecting other’s rights to live their life the way they want, as long as it is not harmful to me or those I care about.
Violence definitely plays a part in my code of honor. I have no reservations to admitting that I have no aversion to violence. Where violence plays a role for me, is in protection of my individual rights, or the happiness of me or those I care for. Though I would never hurt someone to make myself feel better, I would also do anything to defend myself, my friends, my family, even my home. I believe the only honorable way to live is to fight as hard as hard as I can do defend the important things in my life. If I ever believe that America, the country I truly love (with all of it’s infuriating faults) was being threatened, for example, I would gladly go to to war to defend it. If somebody makes the dishonorable choice to try and take something that is mine, or destroy something important to me, It is morally acceptable to retaliate, even with violence. This is the reason why I believe in gun ownership. If it were possible, I would make it so that no guns existed, but as they do, I would never feel comfortable living in a society where the government has firearms but the citizens do not. It would be too easy to control a defenseless population with force. To be honorable is to have the power to defend myself.
Finally, To be honorable is also to have empathy and kindness. Though I will always first and foremost live for myself, and then for those I love, it is important to treat all those around me with dignity and respect. If I did not treat everyone I met with kindness and an open mind, I will have failed my personal honor code. With big important life choices I will always choose me, but If a friend in need asks for help I will always oblige, even if it is inconvenient at the time. To be honorable is to be strong and defend my own way of life, but tender and kind when it is needed to help the ones you love.