No Honor

Honor!  What an old-fashioned word.  How antiquated an idea.  Surely modern sophisticates are aware that this was a ploy perpetrated by the elites in order to defraud the masses.  The goal was to get ordinary people to make sacrifices that were not in their interest.

We, in our world-wise ways, are no longer taken in by such manipulations.  We are not about to do something dangerous just because it is “honorable.”  And so honor has been disappearing from our universe, snuffed out in a whirlwind of cynicism.

But wait!  Some things happened a week ago that reminded me there are still a few honorable people in this country; people who are prepared to do the right thing even though it does not personally benefit them.

Last weekend Fox News ran a special on the contractors who were guarding the CIA Annex in Benghazi.  Their story was inspiring.  Their attitude was even more so.  Here were men who lived up to their commitment to protect and defend; men who put their lives on the line to do so.

When the bullets began flying around the U.S. embassy, they did not run and hide.  Their first impulse was to race toward the shooting.  They were determined not to let their colleagues die unaided.

Then, when superior numbers forced them to fall back, they made a stand worthy of the heroes of the Alamo.  Despite being out-gunned, and even when injured, they fought with stubborn professionalism.   Cool under fire, they kept the enemy at bay for hours.

These men did what they knew to be right.  Although they realized they might lose their lives, they honored their commitments.  The same can be said about the heroes fighting the Ebola outbreak in West Africa.  They too put their moral obligations before their personal comfort.

Dr. Kent Brantly not only volunteered to minister to the ill in Liberia, but when stricken with the deadly disease, he maintained his dignity.  Even though blood was seeping from his orifices—usually a sign that death is near—he kept his composure.

Then, after he recovered, Brantly actually contemplated a return to his duties.  Undeterred by his near miss, he placed his devotion to helping the downtrodden before his own interests.  A man of genuine belief, he would honor his convictions despite the danger.

How different this is from the spectacle we are witnessing in Washington.  Barack Obama and his minions are not above telling any lie or distorting any truth in order to gain a political advantage.  Being honest and doing the right thing is not part of their playbook.

The president of the United States is pledged to defend the nation and to protect the constitution.  But when the guns began to fire in Iraq and the Ukraine, his first impulse was to run for cover.  Unsure about what to do, he decided that the best option was to remain on the safety of the golf course.

Likewise when confronted with a choice between honoring the constitution or enduring a political setback, he jettisoned the constitution.  It did not matter whether he had a right to alter the immigration laws or ObamaCare, the question was what would get him the most votes.

As for liberal Democrats in general, they have grown so accustomed to obscuring for their president’s inadequacies, that they can no longer tell the difference between what is honorable and not.  However egregious the misconduct of their leaders, they find a way to excuse them.

Honor has thus been frittered away very cheaply.  Rationalizations, misconstruals, and downright lies have become the coin of the realm.  Too many decent people, in order to deny their ideological failures, have sold their souls to the devil.

Nevertheless, morality matters!  Honor matters!  Once these have been abandoned in the service of ambition or cowardice, they are difficult to reclaim.  Hence what today looks like a good bargain may tomorrow precipitate a catastrophe.

Melvyn L. Fein, Ph.D.

Professor of Sociology

Kennesaw State University