How Do We Swing Honor Around?
by Trent Gilliss, senior editor
Can we make the world a better place if we change the way people think about honor? This is the question philosopher Kwame Anthony Appiah explores in this smart, three-minute short film. He gives several examples of how customs that were once considered a matter of honor — challenging someone to a duel or foot-binding small girls — persisted for thousands of years but ceased after a few decades.
But why? Only when the fundamental dialogue in society is based on respect, Appiah says, can we change the way accepted practices, such as honor killings, are viewed by the people who carry them out.
I want to get back to what I remember as a kid, the way of life here in Louisiana. We tend to think we live a little differently down here. It’s a lot of culture, a lot of French culture. Everywhere I’ve been in the country, for some reason, this is the place I can’t get away from.
— Gil Meche, pitcher for the Kansas City Royals
Meche pitches against the Oakland A’s in 2008.
(photo: John H. Kim/Flickr, licensed under Creative Commons)
The 32-year-old baseball player from the Lafayette is getting a lot of attention for his recent decision to retire and forgo the last year of his contract. Salary given up? $12 million.
“’When I signed my contract, my main goal was to earn it,’” Meche said this week by phone from Lafayette, La. “’Once I started to realize I wasn’t earning my money, I felt bad. I was making a crazy amount of money for not even pitching. Honestly, I didn’t feel like I deserved it. I didn’t want to have those feelings again.’”
Honorable indeed. But it’s his longing for home and sense of identity wrapped up in place that’s most striking, and more interesting to think about. I know my North Dakota roots have shaped me in myriad, subtle ways: the open landscape, the Missouri River, the big sky and broad, never-ending horizon, the pragmatic people. These all add up and are a large part of what defines me. And you?
by Trent Gilliss, senior editor
