History is awash with what great orators, statesmen, generals, artists, and scientists thought about honor. However, if you had to pick a quote that grasps the difference between personal glory and honor, it is probably one attributed to American science fiction writer Lois McMaster Bujold.
In Bujold’s words: “Reputation is what other people know about you. Honor is what you know about yourself.” She followed this up with “Guard your honor. Let your reputation fall where it will. And outlive the bastards,” but the latter is perhaps a little less eloquent, so let’s stick with the first quote for polite inspiration.
The attack on Ukraine has revealed much about the character of individuals and nations. War and the defense of freedom tend to do that. Indeed, any crisis in which there is an opportunity to make a name for oneself or to stand on the side of right has a habit of revealing the true motivations of people.
During the last four years, a long list of national leaders, prominent because of their power to help defend Ukraine and speak out in her support, have been tested in this way. Are they motivated by a sense of honor and integrity, underpinned by the principled conviction to stand alongside those who seek to defend their freedom? Or is the whole situation a maelstrom from which one should try to extract some personal or commercial gain?
US President Donald Trump has made many statements about the number of wars he has solved, and he has said plenty about Nobel Prizes and his desire for one. At least to an observer, it would not be unreasonable to be suspicious that as Ukraine faces a winter onslaught viciously and sadistically directed at its energy sector, an opportunity is being taken to hustle Ukraine into a deal with Russia for the sake of achieving the optics of a war solved, and the potential for a prize to be gained.
To threaten Ukraine with a cessation of support as the cost of failing to agree to its virtual capitulation would be an historic blunder, morally and practically.
People have never been helped in the test of courage and honor by the tinsel and tincture that come with internationally recognized prizes, Nobel Prizes among them. Like the mythical Furies, awards, titles, medals, and honors dance around and torment with glitter and recognition. Rather than chide these distractions, in many ways they are a useful temptation with which to test people.
Physicist Richard Feynman, whose late view on honors and awards I admire, once said of the Nobel Prize: “I don’t know anything about the Nobel Prize. I don’t understand what it’s all about or what’s worth what… I don’t like honors…Honors is epaulets, honors is uniforms”. Despite his views (but hopefully because of them) he was awarded a Nobel Prize and he received it with grace, but he was adamant that the prize was in doing the science, not in being recognized.
Putting glory and pride above honor
The new peace plan, up to its eyeballs in concessions from Ukraine, nothing from the invader, has all the hallmarks of a desperate bid to achieve some sort of flimsy immediate resolution by Christmas to notch up a claim to have ended a war.
A nation and her people bullied towards a peace deal to realize the vainglory of a Nobel Prize. Let us hope for the sake of the US Administration and the credibility of the United States of America herself, that this is a phantom suspicion. Nevertheless, to some people, this is how it might seem.
The new peace deal echoes the story of Achilles. His personal glory was slighted by Agamemnon, leader of the Greek forces, who had seized Briseis, a beautiful concubine war prize belonging to Achilles. With vengeance in mind and a wounded pride, Achilles proceeds to remove his troops from the battle against the Trojans. The result was catastrophic losses for the Greek army.
The great hero of Homer’s “Iliad” had put glory and pride above honor – his duty to stand with the forces of Greece and to defend his people, even if that meant losing prized possessions and forfeiting the stature he would like to have commanded. Homer’s paean on honor stands the test of time. Those who sell out a nation to reach for personal aggrandizement deserve timeless infamy.
“This too shall pass” as the Persians once observed about the impermanence of life. They were right, but memories of the past do not so easily fade. In decades and centuries from now, as the fog of war and the present burn away, it will be clear for everyone to see which people and nations had the virtue to stand with those who fight for their liberty and which of them failed.
The US is dangerously close to engraving a permanent record of dishonor in its history. A betrayal of Ukraine will never be forgiven, either by Ukrainians or by anyone whose instincts lie with freedom. On Ukraine’s Day of Dignity and Freedom, the demands are especially irksome, but they gave Zelensky the opportunity to show to the world, yet again, that Ukrainians will not forfeit their dignity for prizes.
It is surprising that after four years, little has been learned in the US about Ukraine and its personality. When former US President Joe Biden had to swallow his words after he offered Zelensky a ride and was told in simple terms that the requirement was for ammunition, not a quick exit, it would be reasonable for anyone to have learned a lesson.
However, four years on, Ukraine’s courage in defending its independence is unwavering, yet its depth and strength is still not understood by those in The White House.
The US President should take advice from the mythical Agamemnon: “When men act with honor, more are saved than are killed, but when they take flight, there is neither glory nor refuge.”
Charles Cockell is Professor of Astrobiology at the University of Edinburgh.
The views expressed are the author’s and not necessarily of Kyiv Post.