We’ve been talking about the Honor Code, but what is honor anyway?  You’ve probably heard the word used in one context or another: The National Honor Society for high-achieving high school students; the command to honor your father and mother; someone who receives honorable mention in a competition.  But what exactly does it mean?

Well, the dictionary gives two related but quite different definitions of honor: The first is “high respect; great esteem”; the second is “adherence to what is right.”  In a properly ordered culture and society, the two will merge: Those who consistently adhere to what is right will receive from their fellow man high respect and great esteem for it.

But often that is not the case.  Today, we frequently see that the greatest respect and highest esteem are reserved for the wealthiest, the most powerful, or simply the most famous people—sometimes even the least honorable in their personal conduct are the most honored publicly for “being true to themselves” or for their “authenticity” or for “following their passions.”

At CCA, we are not particularly concerned with the first kind of honor, the kind that depends on what the hymnwriter calls “man’s empty praise,” that is, what society decides in the moment is worthy of its esteem.   

No, we care about the honor that adheres to what is right…especially when those around us ridicule or condemn or ignore us.  Our Honor Code is a statement of the good and right conduct we ought to adhere to, regardless of whether we get a badge, a trophy, a ribbon, or even a compliment for it. 

Do you desire to be honorable, or simply to be honored?  Think about it…