A couple of favorite quotes of mine. · 6:18pm Jun 24th, 2017
From Star Trek Enterprise, from a klingon, concerning klingons.
My father was a teacher... my mother, a biologist at the university. They encouraged me to take up the law. Now, all young people want to do is take up weapons as soon as they can hold them. They're told there's honor in victory, any victory, but what honor is there in a victory over a weaker opponent? [...] We were a great society not so long ago when honor was earned through integrity and acts of true courage, not senseless bloodshed.
On the subject of honor, from Blood Song, by Anthony Ryan.
Honour? 'Honour' is just a word. You can't eat it or drink it and yet everywhere I go men talk of it endlessly, and they all tell a different tale of what it actually means. For the Alopirans it's all about duty, the Renfaelins think it's the same as courage. In these islands it appears it means killing a son for a crime committed by his father then slaughtering a helpless man when the pantomime fails to go to plan. I offer no excuse for my father's actions. Nor can I offer any contrition. He burned a city on the orders of his king, it was wrong but I had no hand in it. In any case, spilling my blood will leave no mark on a man who died three years ago, peacefully in his bed with his wife and daughter at his side. There is no vengeance to be had on a corpse long since given to the fire. Now give me what I came for or kill me and have done.
Wow, those are deep. Mine is just the scene from Alice in Wonderland where she asks the Cheshire Cat for directions.
Well, in my understanding honor is more about privilege, investment, and generosity. My father didn't invest in me on a social level, but we both benefited from the privilege that comes with one of the other. For example he had the privilege of not being seen as a deadbeat who didn't pay child support for his other children, and I had the honor of being his child with responsibilities for minding his shop. He didn't even teach me how to tie my shoes or catch a ball. I honor my father by carrying his name and memory, and since he didn't give me a social boon I have no other responsibilities for which I must honor him. Which is tragic for all the mentors he had and training he received he chose not to share it, all I learned from him was through observation and experience. I honor my mother by keeping her morals, her dreams for the future, believing in her God and sharing that God, those morals, and dreams with others. In theory, if I cannot satisfy her hopes I can pass them onto the next generation and so on. My understanding is that my parents were not equally yoked and that is what lead to their separation. My parents seperated when I was 15, I was entirely responsible for initiating and maintaining all contact with my father, and to the best of my knowledge he invested more heavily in the son from his previous marriage. But, not the son of his first.