True and false honor

D. Likhachev vividly discusses true and false honor in the tenth letter of the book “Letters about the Good and the Beautiful.” It was these arguments that I took as the basis for my essay. Likhachev writes that a synonym for true honor is conscience, which is located in a person’s subconscious, does not allow him to calm down, “gnaws” from the inside. Likhachev calls false honor “the honor of the uniform.” This means that a person “in office” often acts not according to his convictions, not according to his conscience, but as required by conditions and instructions. In this case, personal gain often prevails over other people's problems.
Reflecting on true honor, I remembered the famous Russian translator Lilianna Lungina. Her memories 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 Klavdiya Vasilievna Poltavskaya, the director of the school where the girl studied. During the difficult years of repression and total surveillance, Klavdiya Vasilievna was guided in her work by her moral principles. The director took the girl, whose parents were arrested, to live with her and gave her the opportunity to finish school. Poltavskaya sheltered a homeless boy, picked him up on the street, and for moral reasons told everyone that he was her distant relative. For Klavdia Vasilievna, it was important that the children trusted her and were not afraid of her. At the same time, she was strict with her students. In my opinion, the school principal is an example of true honor because her actions never went against her conscience.
But an example of false honor, in my opinion, is the head of MTS Knyazhev from the story “Potholes” by V. Tendryakov. The truck driver was driving fellow travelers along a bad road. Suddenly the car overturned and one of the passengers suffered a serious abdominal injury. Knyazhev was the first to take up the stretcher and carried the bleeding wounded man eight kilometers off-road. Having reached the first aid station, he left the stretcher and began 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 provide a tractor to deliver the young man to the area. But the head of MTS categorically refused to give an order, citing instructions. For the bureaucrat Knyazhev, his own importance as a guardian of the law turned out to be higher than human life. A few hours later, he finally allocated a tractor, but not because his conscience awoke in him, but because of the fear of party punishment. But time was lost; the young man died on the way to the regional center. This example clearly illustrates the idea of ​​D. Likhachev’s “honor of the uniform.”
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 throughout the whole earth, do good for the benefit of others. Not for the beautiful thank you of someone who heard you nearby,” urges singer Shura. And I completely agree with him.

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The essay was sent by site user Nikita Vorotnyuk.

What is honor? This is the indicator by which society evaluates a person’s moral worth; it is our internal judge and limiter, associated with the assessment and perception of such qualities as nobility, chastity, morality, valor, honesty, conscientiousness and much more. Objectively speaking, in a world of sins and temptations, it is difficult to be a man of honor - it is much easier for them to appear and pretend to be one, and this fact leads us to a discussion about what is true honor in this case, and what is imaginary?

In Russian literature there are many examples of virtues, people who are honest and correct in relation to their thoughts and actions, no less than those whose activities are thoroughly saturated with hypocrisy and falsehood. Imaginary honor is the prerogative of weak and empty individuals who do not know how or do not want to live their own lives, but only pretend to be completely different individuals. Moreover, such people often have a pronounced complete dissonance of thoughts and actions. The main indicator of imaginary honor is dishonesty, while in the case of true honor, conscience comes first. Those who only pretend to be an honest person have no self-respect at all, while honest people, on the contrary, are primarily guided only by their own worldview and worldview, honesty and justice towards themselves and towards others.

A good example of a man of honor is Pyotr Grinev, the hero of the story by A.S. Pushkin "The Captain's Daughter". We get acquainted with his activities at an age when a person’s character is a priori not fully formed - however, already being very young, Peter, with absolutely good intentions, thanks the traveler for his help, giving him his sheepskin coat. As the story progresses, we become more and more convinced of the integrity of this hero: he fights for the honor of his beloved in a duel with Shvabrin, well aware of the risk to his own life, but immediately forgives the scoundrel who slandered Maria, realizing that no physical punishment can teach the scoundrel a lesson and instill in him respect for people, which means that no such punishment makes sense. And even Peter’s own life does not enter into any competition with self-esteem, and therefore, when Pugachev gives the hero a choice: to die or go over to the side of the enemy, Grinev undoubtedly chooses death. Yes, perhaps, self-esteem mixed with youthful passion and thoughtlessness in actions often played a cruel joke on Grinev - but over time, when emotions subsided a little, and Peter began to understand the logic of his actions and judgments, his respect for himself and for people only intensified, and the sense of justice intensified and sparkled with new colors. Peter is an example of true honor, while Shvabrin, a low, greedy and stupid man, appears in the story as his complete opposite.

No matter how much a person pretends to be someone he is not, sooner or later society will recognize his whole vile essence and accuse this person of dishonor and immorality. The type of people with imaginary honor includes Grushnitsky, the hero of the novel by M.Yu. Lermontov "Hero of Our Time". From time to time he was ashamed of the fact that he was an army man, considered this rank unworthy, and, “dragging” after Princess Mary, he humiliated himself in every possible way, groveling in front of her, throwing around feigned pompous expressions. The hero even at some point began to hide his lameness, which, perhaps, all this time was only part of his image. He portrayed himself as a serious man, and, it would seem, treated his feelings with dignity and honor, but in an instant, with one refusal of feelings, the princess turned from an “angel” into a “coquette”, love evaporated, and base ones came in its place. gossip and rumors. Grushnitsky, being a typical representative of the “water society,” planned for a long time to pose as a “hero of a novel,” but his whole essence very quickly came out, and he, later, having contacted the same unworthy individuals as himself, showed a complete lack of self-esteem honor and dignity, having decided to win a duel by deception, for which he paid with his life.

Living easier or living more correctly is a choice that every person makes for himself throughout his life. What is imaginary honor and what is true is not difficult to understand, each of us is the sculptor of our own destiny, but in any circumstances it is worth remembering the quote by A.P. Chekhov: “Honor cannot be taken away, it can be lost.”

D.S. Likhachev

Letters to young readers

LETTER TEN
HONOR IS 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 significant difference between conscience and honor. Conscience always comes from the depths of the soul, and by conscience one is purified to one degree or another. Conscience is gnawing. Conscience is never false. It can be muted or too exaggerated (extremely rare). But ideas about honor can be completely false, and these false ideas cause enormous damage to society. I mean what is called “uniform honor.” 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 the man had died, and only the uniform remained, from which the orders had been removed. And inside which a conscientious heart no longer beats.

“The honor of the uniform” forces managers to defend false or flawed projects, insist on the continuation of obviously unsuccessful construction projects, fight with societies protecting monuments (“our construction is more important”), etc. Many examples of such defense of “uniform honor” can be given.

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
ABOUT CAREERISM

A person develops from the first day of his birth. He is focused on 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, as a boy and a young man, he also studies.

And the time has come to apply your knowledge and achieve what you strived for. Maturity. We need to live in the present...
But the acceleration continues, and now, instead of studying, the time comes for many to master their situation in life. The movement proceeds by inertia. A person is always striving towards the future, and the future is no longer in real knowledge, not in mastering skills, but in placing oneself in an advantageous position. The content, the real content, is lost. The present time does not come, there is still an empty aspiration to the future. This is careerism. Internal anxiety that makes a person personally unhappy and unbearable for others.

LETTER TWELVE
A PERSON MUST BE INTELLIGENT

A person must be intelligent! What if his profession does not require intelligence? And if he could not get an education: that’s how the circumstances developed. What if the environment doesn’t allow it? What if his intelligence makes him a “black sheep” among his colleagues, friends, relatives, and simply prevents him from getting closer to other people?

No, no and NO! Intelligence is needed under all circumstances. It is necessary both for others and for the person himself.

This is very, very important, and above all in order to live happily and long - yes, long! For intelligence is equal to moral health, and health is needed to live long - not only physically, but also mentally. The Bible says: “Honor your father and your mother, and you will live long on earth.” This applies to both an entire nation and an individual. That's wise.

But first of all, let’s define what intelligence is, and then why it is connected with the commandment of longevity.

Many people think: an intelligent person is one who has read a lot, received a good education (and even mainly a humanitarian one), traveled a lot, and knows several languages.
Meanwhile, you can have all this and be unintelligent, and you can not possess any of this to a large extent, but still be an internally intelligent person.

Education cannot be confused with intelligence. Education lives by old content, intelligence - by creating new things and recognizing the old as new.

Moreover... Deprive a truly intelligent person of all his knowledge, education, deprive him of his memory. Let him forget everything in the world, he will not know the classics of literature, he will not remember the greatest works of art, he will forget the most important historical events, but if at the same time he remains receptive to intellectual values, a love of acquiring knowledge, an interest in history, an aesthetic sense, he will be able to to distinguish a real work of art from a “thing” made only to surprise, if he can admire the beauty of nature, understand the character and individuality of another person, enter into his position, and having understood the other person, help him, does not show rudeness, indifference, gloating, envy, but will appreciate another if he shows respect for the culture of the past, the skills of an educated person, responsibility in resolving moral issues, the richness and accuracy of his language - spoken and written - this will be an intelligent person.

Intelligence is not only about knowledge, but about the ability to understand others. It manifests itself in a thousand and a thousand little things: in the ability to argue respectfully, to behave modestly at the table, in the ability to imperceptibly (precisely imperceptibly) help another, to take care of nature, not to litter around oneself - do not litter with cigarette butts or swearing, bad ideas (this is also garbage , and what else!).

I knew peasants in the Russian North who were truly intelligent. They maintained amazing cleanliness in their homes, knew how to appreciate good songs, knew how to tell “happenings” (that is, what happened to them or others), lived an orderly life, were hospitable and friendly, treated with understanding both the grief of others and someone else's joy.

Intelligence is the ability to understand, to perceive, it is a tolerant attitude towards the world and towards people.
You need to develop intelligence in yourself, train it – train your mental strength, just as you train your physical strength. And training is possible and necessary in any conditions.

That training physical strength contributes to longevity is understandable. Much less understands that longevity requires training of spiritual and mental strength.

The fact is that an angry and angry reaction to the environment, rudeness and lack of understanding of others is a sign of mental and spiritual weakness, human inability to live... Pushing around in a crowded bus is a weak and nervous person, exhausted, reacting incorrectly to everything. Quarreling with neighbors is also a person who does not know how to live, who is mentally deaf. An aesthetically unresponsive person is also an unhappy person. Someone who cannot understand another person, attributes only evil intentions to him, and is always offended by others - this is also a person who impoverishes his own life and interferes with the lives of others. Mental weakness leads to physical weakness. I'm not a doctor, but I'm convinced of it. Long-term experience has convinced me of this.

Friendliness and kindness make a person not only physically healthy, but also beautiful. Yes, exactly beautiful.

A person’s face, distorted by malice, becomes ugly, and the movements of an evil person are devoid of grace - not deliberate grace, but natural grace, which is much more expensive.

A person's social duty is to be intelligent. This is a duty to yourself. This is the key to his personal happiness and the “aura of goodwill” around him and towards him (that is, addressed to him).

Everything I talk about with young readers in this book is a call to intelligence, to physical and moral health, to the beauty of health. Let us live long as people and as a people! And veneration of father and mother should be understood broadly - as veneration of all our best in the past, in the past, which is the father and mother of our modernity, great modernity, to which it is great happiness to belong.

Quoted from:
D.S. Likhachev. Letters about good. St. Petersburg: “Russian-Baltic Information Center BLITs”, 1999.

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

Without getting angry, clear up the misunderstanding - that’s all.

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

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

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

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

This is if they “offend” you, but what to do when you yourself can offend someone else? You need to be especially careful when dealing with touchy people. Touchiness 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 significant difference between conscience and honor. Conscience always comes from the depths of the soul, and by conscience one is purified to one degree or another. Conscience is gnawing. Conscience is never false. It can be muted or too exaggerated (extremely rare). But ideas about honor can be completely false, and these false ideas cause enormous damage to society. I mean what is called “uniform honor.” 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 the man had died, and only the uniform remained, from which the orders had been removed. And inside which a conscientious heart no longer beats.

“The honor of the uniform” forces managers to defend false or flawed projects, insist on the continuation of obviously unsuccessful construction projects, fight with societies protecting monuments (“our construction is more important”), etc. Many examples of such defense of “uniform honor” can be given.

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 about careerism

A person develops from the first day of his birth. He is focused on 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, as a boy and a young man, he also studies.

And the time has come to apply your knowledge and achieve what you strived for. Maturity. We must live in the present...

But the acceleration continues, and now, instead of studying, the time comes for many to master their situation in life. The movement proceeds by inertia. A person is always striving towards the future, and the future is no longer in real knowledge, not in mastering skills, but in placing oneself in an advantageous position. The content, the real content, is lost. The present time does not come, there is still an empty aspiration to the future. This is careerism. Internal anxiety that makes a person personally unhappy and unbearable for others.

Letters about the good and the beautiful Likhachev Dmitry Sergeevich

Letter Ten: HONOR, TRUE AND FALSE

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 significant difference between conscience and honor. Conscience always comes from the depths of the soul, and by conscience one is purified to one degree or another. Conscience is gnawing. Conscience is never false. It can be muted or too exaggerated (extremely rare). But ideas about honor can be completely false, and these false ideas cause enormous damage to society. I mean what is called “uniform honor.” 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 the man had died, and only the uniform remained, from which the orders had been removed. And inside which a conscientious heart no longer beats.

“The honor of the uniform” forces managers to defend false or flawed projects, insist on the continuation of obviously unsuccessful construction projects, fight with societies protecting monuments (“our construction is more important”), etc. Many examples of such defense of “uniform honor” can be given.

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.