Honor true and false

D. Likhachev vividly discusses true and false honor in the tenth letter of the book “Letters about the Good and the Beautiful”. It is these considerations that I took as the basis of my essay. Likhachev writes that conscience, which is in the subconscious of a person, does not allow him to calm down, “gnaws” from the inside, is a synonym for true honor. Likhachev calls the false honor "the honor of the uniform." This means that a person "in office" often does not act according to his convictions, not according to his conscience, but as the conditions and instructions require. In this case, often personal gain prevails over other people's problems.
Thinking about true honor, I remembered the famous Russian translator Lilianna Lungina. Her memoirs were recorded by O. Dorman and published in the book Interlinear: The Life of Lilianna Lungina, told by her in Oleg Dorman's film. I remember the episode where the translator talks about Claudia Vasilievna Poltavskaya, the director of the school where the girl studied. In the difficult years of repressions, total surveillance, Klavdiya Vasilievna was guided by her moral principles in her work. The director took the girl, whose parents were arrested, to live with her, gave her the opportunity to finish school. Poltavskaya sheltered a homeless boy, picked him up on the street, for moral reasons told everyone that he was her distant relative. For Claudia Vasilievna, it was important that the children trust her, not be afraid of her. At the same time, she was strict with her students. In my opinion, the principal of the school is an example of true honor, because her actions never went against her conscience.
And here is an example false honor, in my opinion, is the head of the MTS Knyazhev from the story of V. Tendryakov "Knobs". The truck driver was driving fellow travelers on a bad road. Suddenly, the car overturned, and one of the passengers received a serious abdominal injury. Knyazhev was the first to take up the stretcher and carried the bleeding wounded for eight kilometers off-road. When he reached the first-aid post, he left the stretcher and proceeded to his official duties. When it became clear that the victim was dying, that hours and minutes were counting, they turned to Knyazhev with a request to allocate a tractor for delivery young man to the region. But the head of the MTS categorically refused to give an order, referring to the instructions. For the bureaucrat Knyazhev, his own importance as a guardian of the law turned out to be higher human life. A few hours later, he nevertheless allocated a tractor, but not because a conscience woke up in him, but because of the fear of a party penalty. But time was lost, the young man died on the way to the regional center. This example vividly illustrates the idea of ​​the "honor of the uniform" of D. Likhachev.
In conclusion, I want to say that people who act according to their conscience never expect applause and gratitude, but do good deeds quietly and from the heart. This distinguishes them from people whose honor is false. “Do good on the whole earth, do good to others for the good. Not for the beautiful thanks to the one who heard you nearby, ”calls the singer Shura. And I completely agree with him.

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The essay was sent by the site user Nikita Vorotnyuk.

You should be offended only when they want to offend you. If they don’t want to, and the reason for resentment is an accident, then why be offended?

Without getting angry, clear up the misunderstanding - and that's it.

Well, what if they want to offend? Before responding to an insult with an insult, it is worth considering: should one stoop to an insult? After all, resentment usually lies somewhere low and you should bend down to it in order to pick it up.

If you still decide to be offended, then first perform some mathematical action - subtraction, division, etc. Let's say you were insulted for something in which you are only partly to blame. Subtract from your feelings of resentment everything that does not apply to you. Suppose that you were offended by noble motives - divide your feelings into noble motives that caused an insulting remark, etc. Having performed some necessary mathematical operation in your mind, you will be able to respond to an insult with great dignity, which will be the nobler than you attach less importance to resentment. To certain limits, of course.

In general, excessive touchiness is a sign of a lack of intelligence or some kind of complexes. Be smart.

There is good English rule: be offended only when you want offend intentionally offend. There is no need to be offended by simple inattention, forgetfulness (sometimes characteristic of a given person due to age, due to some psychological shortcomings). On the contrary, show special attention to such a “forgetful” person - it will be beautiful and noble.

This is if they “offend” you, but what if you yourself can offend another? In relation to touchy people, one must be especially careful. Resentment is a very painful character trait.

Letter ten honor true and false

I don't like definitions and am often not ready for them. But I can point out some differences between conscience and honor.

There is one essential difference between conscience and honor. Conscience always comes from the depths of the soul, and by conscience they are cleansed to one degree or another. Conscience "gnaws". Conscience is not false. It is muffled or too exaggerated (extremely rare). But ideas about honor are completely false, and these false ideas cause enormous damage to society. I mean what is called the "honor of the uniform." We have lost such a phenomenon, unusual for our society, as the concept of noble honor, but the "honor of the uniform" remains a heavy burden. It was as if a man had died, and only the uniform remained, from which the orders were removed. And within which a conscientious heart no longer beats.

The “honor of the uniform” forces the leaders to defend false or vicious projects, to insist on the continuation of obviously unsuccessful construction projects, to fight with the societies protecting monuments (“our construction is more important”), etc. There are many examples of such upholding of the “honor of the uniform”.

True honor is always in accordance with conscience. False honor is a mirage in the desert, in the moral desert of the human (or rather, “bureaucratic”) soul.

Letter Eleven on Careerism

A person develops from the first day of his birth. He is looking to the future. He learns, learns to set new tasks for himself, without even realizing it. And how quickly he masters his position in life. He already knows how to hold a spoon and pronounce the first words.

Then he also studies as a boy and a young man.

And the time has come to apply your knowledge, to achieve what you aspired to. Maturity. You have to live in real...

But the acceleration persists, and now, instead of teaching, the time comes for many to master the position in life. The movement goes by inertia. A person is constantly striving towards the future, and the future is no longer in real knowledge, not in mastering the skill, but in arranging oneself in an advantageous position. The content, the original content, is lost. The present time does not come, there is still an empty aspiration to the future. This is careerism. Inner restlessness that makes a person unhappy personally and unbearable for others.