Here it is July 4th and most would expect a blog about our independence or something appropriate for the holiday. Maybe a support blog for our men and women in uniform or a tribute to those who have fought so bravely to win our independence. However, I find myself thinking on other things, albeit such matters deserve discussion and rememberance. The thought for today goes to my son. I keep thinking of what I am going to teach him as he grows up and how I will impact his life. How will I contribute to his life and help him to be a better man than I?

One word keeps coming to mind.... Honor. But why? The truth is most of us don't even know what honor truly is. My father told me, "Honor is a man's gift to himself." I thought to myself, "man that sounds good." The saying comes from a movie starring Liam Neason, "Rob Roy" and while it is a good movie, and the statement sounds good and has a bit of ring to it, it doesn't hold any weight. There is absolutely no substance in it. The fact is that it couldn't be further from the truth. It was simply Hollywood's attempt to glamorize a man who while in the movie seemed to be honorable, is still a man who in the movie commits kidnapping, and covers up a murder committed by his wife. There is no honor in that.

The truth is that Honor is something that is fleeting in this day and age. Fewer people understand it's importance as the days go by and fewer still posses such qualities. We think of honor as doing the right thing at all times. Folks that's character, just as important as honor but not exactly the same thing. Honor though is being true to yourself and to those around you. Honor is being a man or woman of your word. Honor is saying what you mean and meaning what you say. Honor is making a promise and then fullfilling that promise. Honor is and always has been something we have not fully understood, but it is also something that we always have needed.

There was a day when this country was full of Men of Honor. It was led by Men of Honor. Men who did what they promised to do. These were men who maintained their honor even when doing so was unpopular. Few men have such honor in these days. I want my son to be a man of honor. It will put him on the right track, it will set him up to make the right choices where I have made the wrong ones. Maybe then he will be a better man than me.

Valkyrie