Thanks to the wonderful, people-centric team of Cue Ball Capital, this week I heard Khalida Brohi speak about her new memoir, I Should Have Honor.
Khalida’s story is terrific, with important links to gender equity, cultural identity, and personal development. But, like all good stories, at the heart of it is love. Khalida’s life was changed because her father defined honor differently than some others – as getting good grades and earning a great education.
This thought has stuck with me all week, and hopefully it will stick for much longer. What am I honoring with my actions, with my words, with my life?
There is a lot of ugliness that is wrapped up in a false cloak of honor these days, so we need to be careful. Whether patriotism or prayer or parenting, when the word “honor” is invoked, beware. Sometimes it is a shiny wrapper, meant to distract us from an essence of fear or control or meanness. The easiest test of truth is to ask, Where is the beloved that links to this honor?
If we can see the love, the honor rings true.
Indeed, it may be the work of our time to reunite honor and love.
Dear friends, instead of starting with, What do you honor?
Let’s start with, What do you love?
And then let’s honor that – steady and deep and true.
* Happy Father’s Day to all of the fathers and father-figures out there. This week’s edition is in tribute to my own dad, who has demonstrated this link between honor and love more vividly than anyone I know.