[Ansteorra] Re: Questions 11/3

[Michael Tucker]

On Monday, November 4, 2002, at 02:14 PM, Aline Swynbrook wrote:
> 1. What is your definition of honour?
>
> Honour is knowing that you have your good name, and
> that the highest of peers and the humblest of servants
> would both be gald to call you friend.

Forgive me, Lady Aline, but I disagree with you in this detail. I
suggest that these things you have described constitute one's GLORY, not
one's HONOR.

GLORY is the opinion others hold of us. It is a fickle thing that can be
won in a moment, and just as quickly lost. It is a gift that others give
us.

HONOR is the opinion we hold of ourselves. It is fairly constant (short
of a moral or ethical disaster). I suggest that it is hard-won among the
honorable, but also easily lost. A single gross misstep can cost you
everything, though you can - with humility, patience, and time - find
your way back to honor, and personal redemption. It is a gift that we
give ourselves.

One can attain glory without honor. One can also stand firm in the
conviction of one's honor, at the cost of glory.

Having said all of this, I agree with you that there are those who look
for honor, not glory, in others; and, finding it, are glad to call them
"friend".

> Honour is the
> moral courage and decency to stand firm in your
> convictions, no matter what the consequences to your
> life and property.  No accolade, won by cheat,
> falsehood, or cheap trick, can garner honour.
>

In this, and in all your subsequent points, I agree with you completely,
good Lady. Well said, and let both the newcomer and the veteran find
thoughtful guidance in your gentle words.

Yours,
Michael Silverhands

> 2. What is your definition of chivalry?
>
> Chivalry is the treatment of all as though they were
> your equal or your better.  It is the outward example
> of honour, decency, and kindness.  It is living by
> one's convictions, without fail, in every situation.
>
> 3. What is your definition of "the dream"?
> "The dream" is the pursuit of the two above.  It is
> finding and understanding the motivations of those who
> have gone before us in history, culling the very best
> of their world, and synthesizing it with our own.  The
> dream extends beyond an event, a tournament, a
> persona, or barony.  It is not titles gained, ballads
> composed, Pennsics attended, nor battles won.  It is
> all of these things and it is none of them.  The
> dream, in the end, if the knowledge of self, of duty,
> of honour, of purpose, and of peace that is learned in
> all that is done in the daily life and grand events of
> the Society.
>
>
> Please pardon my humble answers, as I am long
> cloistered in the world of academia, and largely
> unaware of the events of the Knowne World.
>
> Aline Swynbrook, scholar, writer, and humble servant
> and seeker of the dream.