HONOR AND REPUTATION

A while back someone on the Aten list asked for a Latin translation of the motto "Honor Before Victory." What they got was a Latin phrase that meant, roughly "Reputation Before Victory."

While that may not seem like much of a distinction, it is in fact a critical difference. Reputation is a very, very different thing from honor. In this case the mistake was almost certainly innocent -- a matter of choosing the wrong word. But confusing your honor with your reputation is deadly.

Reputation is what people say about you. Honor is what you are. You don't control your reputation, at least not completely. You are the absolute master of your own honor.

Reputation is fickle. Others make your reputation by what they say about you. Usually your reputation reflects your character, but not always. One or two malicious gossips can spread highly slanted stories, or outright lies, about you and seriously damage your reputation, at least in the short run. (In the longer run, character matters. Your own actions and words ultimately count for more than the lies others tell about you.)

But no one else can touch your honor. Your honor is what you and you alone make it. If you act honorably you enhance your honor. If you act dishonorably out of spite, convenience or to gain the opinion of others, you diminish your honor -- and so diminish yourself.