I had a bad day out on the trails in Lubbock. They’re not much, but they are what we have. Sometimes I can handle them, sometimes not so much. Today was not so much. The headset on my bike was creaking a little too much for me! That poor little bike! (I’m pushing 280 pounds.The stress it must be under!)
I told Robert and Noah, “Be careful! I am going back to the truck.” My almost-Life Scout said, “Wait, I might be able to fix it.” Well, not this time, little Padawan. I am thankful he is somewhat prepared, but I wasn’t going to let him work on it out on the trails.
On my way back to the truck, I figured the road is safer than the trails and take a quick trip around the lake to the Lubbock City Cemetery. It is really a fun place to ride. There is so much history, and where else can you see this famous Lubbockite? It is always fun to ride out there to see his grave and take in the history and the names, many of which we might never see used again in the future. I ride the cemetery several times a year.
This trip, however, I saw something different that hadn’t registered during prior trips. As I passed the “Medal of Honor” sign, I turned to look at the back side. The awardee, branch, rank, and conflict were listed. Wow, we have a Medal of Honor winner buried in Lubbock. Wait. There are two, then three. All three are from different conflicts through the history of the US., some on native soils and some on foreign. I did not ride the rest of the roads to see how many others might be in our midst.
The Medal of Honor is the Military’s highest military decoration to identify those who exhibited extreme valor. Often the recipient rescued or saved several of his or her combat mates while under duress.
The term “Medal of Honor” sat in my mind. I started to break it down. Medal…an award, a device of recognition. Honor...that is the big one considering the environment we are currently in with racial, political, and systemic divide in this country. Honor: how many ways can we use this in our current situation? I found four ways in Dictionary.com:
Honor
Dictionary.com definition:
1. Honesty, fairness, or integrity in one’s belief and actions
2. High respect for worth, merit, or rank
13. To hold in…high respect; revere
17. To show a courteous regard for
When I applied each of the four definitions to “Medal of Honor,” I saw something I hope we would all do (or should be doing). When I think about some of the current situations our country is currently wound up in, all four of these definitions ring high!
Honor: 1. Honesty, fairness, or integrity in one’s belief and action. All three need to be to our daily activities. If each of us would exhibit these actions, we would all be giving as we are receiving.
Honor: 2. High respect for worth, merit, or rank. When we assign worth to other persons, we show them honor, we show them respect, we provide them with merit. Every person we interact with every day has worth. Everyone has merit. Sometimes we need to take our blinders off to see this.
Honor: 13. To Hold in…high respect; revere. When we assign worth to other persons, we can extend respect to them. If we don’t hold our friends, family, and peers in high respect or revere their presence in our lives, we lose some level of honor.
Honor: 17. To show a courteous regard for. When we show courteous regard for others around us, our community, our neighbors, and those distant from us, we expand our community through a welcoming warmness.
Honor. Worth. Merit. Respect. Reverence. These are all ways we can show love to our neighbors, our acquaintances, our friends. Showing this level of interest and application to everybody in our lives takes some time; however, as we start to exhibit these traits to others, we will see the same reaction towards us.