Importance On Honor

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BE Words: 603 IS HONOUR SOMETHING WORTH DYING FOR? "It's better to die upon your feet than to live upon your knees!" Emiliano Zapato Salazar, a Mexican revolutionist, once said. Honour has always been an important value in society, and people, men in particular, have often given their lives for honour in past centuries. Even today, in an "enlightened" society, there are men and women willing to die for honour and sacrifice themselves in war. A case in point is the Falklands War in 1982, where hundreds of men put their lives at risk for their country. It is disputable, whether honour is still of such a high value that it is worth dying for, or whether this virtue has lost its significance. In the following essay I will discuss this question with particular regard to war. In order to be willing to die for honour, one has to define what honour is, how it is created and whether it can be taken away by someone other than oneself. Honour generally is the positive reputation a person has; it reflects their loyalty, fairness and integrity. In order to be "honourable", one has to be highly valued by others. Therefore, honour and its importance is conditional upon society and culture - but it also depends on the extent to which one allows oneself to be influenced by the judgement of others.…show more content…
It would be even more "honourable" to free oneself from cultural conventions and set one's life to top priority. Honour is a rather abstract term; in modern society it should not be something to abandon life for. It is a matter of the appreciation of life. Life is precious and more important than any abstract or artificially created value. Therefore dying - or not dying - for honour is a question of self-respect and respect for life, whether it is one's own life or that of one’s family who might have to cope with the loss of a beloved

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