Honor is the Foundation of the Warrior's Way
Master Monkey flicked his tail as he paced around the small room. He was explaining to all his young kung fu students the virtue of honor.
“Honor is to always act uprightly, honestly, and with integrity. It is doing the right and good thing all the time, even when it will mean that things will not turn out best for you. In fact, it means acting correctly especially when things will not turn out best for you. Dose everyone understand?”
The students looked at each other, at Master Monkey, and then at each other again. Many of the young students looked to the ground and fidgeted. Master Monkey, with his keen powers of observation, saw that they did not understand.
A furry paw raised into the air. “Yes, Cassandra?” asked Master Monkey.
“Master Monkey, I still don’t understand. How do we act with honor? Is it just obeying the rules and doing what our teachers say,” the small tiger scratched her head with one extended claw. “or is it more than that?”
“Well, that is part of it, but there is more. An honorable person follows rules, but not all people who follow rules are honorable. Tell me, Chip, is it alright to hit someone during sparring before they are ready or when they are talking to the judge?”
The little crane stretched his wings and twisted his long neck to scratch under one wing with his beak.
“No, that would not be right.”
“Why?” asked the master. “Is it against the rules?”
“Not if the contest had already started. It’s just not right because it is unfair.”
“Very good. Why don’t you all think about that and we will talk more about it tomorrow.”
As the students made their way back to their rooms, Cassandra went a different way than the rest of her fellow students. Making her way down a winding path. She finally arrived at her favorite place, a secret place that was all her own. She sighed and looked around. It was a little clear area within the trees at the kung fu camp, complete with a nice smooth stone she could sit on and a little statue of an ancient fighting man that was half-covered with moss. She always felt so peaceful coming here and thinking about big questions in her life while looking at the little statue. She would sit and think about what Master Monkey said.
As she moved toward her favorite sitting spot, she tripped over something on the ground. With her arms waving wildly about her, she fell and knocked the statue over. To her surprise, one of the statue’s arms fell off as the statue struck the ground. First she looked at the arm, lying all alone on the ground, then she looked all around her. There was no one there. In a flash of reddish fur, she hurried off to her room, checking nervously to see if anyone else saw what happened, and leaving the statue lying on the ground.
The next day, Master Monkey interrupted the normal lessons. “I’m afraid that we have a problem,” he said. “One of the ancient statues in a meditation area has been broken. There are mantis prints on the dirt around the damaged statue. Does anyone want to say anything about this? Freddy?”
All of the students looked at Freddy the mantis. “I haven’t broken anything,” he said quietly. “It wasn’t me.”
Master Monkey continued: “I’m afraid this is a serious matter. There may be punishment. Punishment will be even more severe if the person who caused the damage does not admit to doing it.”
Everything was silent. All eyes were on Freddy and everyone was wondering what would happen to him.
“But, but…I didn’t do anything,” the little mantis cried.
“Master Monkey,” a quiet voice came from the rear of the crowd. Cassandra hesitantly slinked her way to the front of the crowd, ears drooping and tail dragging. “I broke the statue. It was an accident. I tripped and fell and then I was afraid to tell anyone because I didn’t want to get in trouble.” Her big, tear-filled eyes looked up at the master.
Looking down at her, looking right into her eyes, he asked: “Why did you confess, Cassandra, if you were so afraid before?”
Sniffling, the little tiger wiped at her nose with her paw. “I couldn’t let Freddy get in trouble for something he didn’t do. That wouldn’t be fair.”
“I see,” said the master, his long fingers stroking his chin. “Is there a rule that says you shouldn’t let Freddy be punished for something you did?”
“No, I don’t think so.”
"Then why would you do something, like admitting you broke the statue, that may cause you to be punished when it seemed like we already found the person responsible?”
Cassandra stared blankly at Master Monkey, not knowing what to say.
“Honor,” said Freddy. “Cassandra is acting with honor.” His pointed mouth curved into a smile and his huge insect eyes shone as he looked at Cassandra. “Thank you, Cassie.”
Master Monkey smiled. “Do you all understand what honor means now? Do you see that it means respecting others and doing things for their benefit when it is right to do so, even if it makes things worse for you?”
All the students nodded their heads. Feathers, scales, fur, and insect armor shook back and forth vigorously.
“Oh, and honor requires me to apologize to Cassandra. You see, I placed the stone that she tripped over, and the arm on that statue has been loose for a long time. Though she shouldn’t have tried to hide her mistake, she will not be punished because in the end, she acted honorably. Now, let’s all have lunch and discuss other ways we can show that we understand that honor is one of the most important qualities we can have as warriors.”
As all the young kung fu students happily shuffled along the path toward lunch, Master Monkey winked at Cassandra and smiled warmly at her. She smiled back, knowing that she had learned a great lesson.