Quiet Honour

Should we trumpet our contributions, or take personal satisfaction that we did the right thing ?

Do we need to let others celebrate us, so that we perform in a desired way again, or is it enough that we know -inside of ourselves - that the high road was taken, others helped and the world is a slightly better place for our toil.

I've been thinking about this, about a friend 8,000 miles away in a concrete shelter, and I have been wondering about the need for acknowledgment. It's polite to say thanks if you are helped in some way, but when the circumstances demand that you step in and do your best to help your fellow person, is thanks even required ? Instead, its a chance to prove that we're all in this together. If disaster befalls your fellow person, isn't it your duty to assist, to try to help lift the burden of the damage done to them. It's the raison d'etre of the Red Cross's of the world and it's something we should take quiet pride in.

This isn't a back-handed way of giving ourselves a pat on the head, but rather a case I'd put forth that says doing the honourable thing, the right thing to help another isn't something that demands reward or recognition. No more than we congratulate each other for breathing, it should be expected, it should be natural to us, and the compassion for one another should run deep and without expectation of return.

I read an older article by Kevin Myers that originally ran in the Sunday Telegraph in 2002. Here's the link. It's worth a read as it's a poignant example of what I'm trying to capture here. It's a logical extension of asking not what our countries can do for us, but what we can do for our fellow man as the wise man said.

Once it is done do not brag about it, for true honour is earned quietly.