How do we honor something? Must we erect a monument or shrine and pray everyday to honor something? Must we act in a certain way to bring honor to ourselves or those we love? Must we do whatever someone that we respect and value says we must do? How do we honor something that is abstract, with no clear, precise way to bring honor to “it”?
This is something that I have thought about off and on throughout the past couple years. It especially began to pique my interest while watching Avatar the Last Airbender… again. Especially as Zuko starts to go through this shift in his character arc. He is a young man obsessed with honor. He originally is on a mission to “regain” his honor by catching the Avatar, a mission assigned by his father who banished him for talking out of turn. Of course that is a gross understatement but that is the gist of the Zuko’s resentment and situation.
He eventually comes home with his honor back for helping his evil sister complete a mission to capture the capital city of the earth kingdom. Originally he is happy about being back home but it is not what he expected. He thought that he would be happy that he is accepted by his father again and has regained his life in the fire kingdom. However, he finds out that it is his destiny to help the Avatar because his mother’s ancestor was the Avatar even though his father’s side of the family is responsible for the current state of the world.
Leading up to this realization, he begins to ask himself one basic question. Why am I not happy, now that I have my honor and everything that I thought that I wanted? Zuko represents the internal struggle between good and evil because he has both inside him. He betrayed his Uncle, the man who has been at his side and been more of a father to him than his own father, to gain this new life that he has.
But because Zuko has good in him he is conflicted. He has brought dishonor to himself and to the one closest to him. He chooses a new way to bring himself honor and find purpose in his life. He wants to train the Avatar to help restore balance to the world that his family brought chaos into. He wants to honor the way of life that his uncle had been preaching to him all those years that they were traveling together.
And that is how he decides to bring himself and those he loves honor. He changes how he views himself and what he believes to be good and bad in the world. The original representation of hate and evil in the show becomes one of the most important forces of good that help propel the Avatar on his journey of mastery.
Zuko’s journey of self mastery helps Aang on his journey to master all the elements and bring peace to the four nations. Aang’s purpose is to bring balance to the four nations and Zuko brings balance to the turmoil in himself.
I think that this is something that we all must go through. “What do I believe? What do I think is good and bad? What do I stand for? How will I decide to focus my life energy?”. I believe answering these questions is a never ending journey as life brings new experiences that help provide new context that will illuminate our path. Walking that path is how we bring honor to ourselves, as long as we have chosen that path ourselves.
To truly choose our own paths in life we need experience and mistakes. We need to struggle with what exactly we want to be in order to help show us the right path. For it is these mistakes that show us whether or not we are walking in the right direction.
So perhaps, it is this redirection that brings us honor. Any fool can walk a path that is laid out for them. But it is our missteps that always seem to guide us back in the “right” direction. We gain more clarity of our purpose every time we “get off path”.
So perhaps it is seeking clarity that allows us to bring ourselves honor. Or maybe it is our misgivings that bring us clarity that allow us to live a life of honor. I think that to truly live a life of honor we must have clarity of what we want to accomplish.
I hope that we don’t necessarily have to have a self conflict to the same level that Zuko did, but hopefully we eventually find the clarity that he finds at the end of the show. But it is the struggles and the support from his uncle that help show him HIS way.
Pathemata Mathemata 