What is left when honor is lost? For years, this question has guided the discourse surrounding honor and academic integrity at Maggie Walker. Its presence on bulletin boards around the school and on posters in classrooms has served as a reminder to students to uphold their morality in every aspect of life, from the classroom to beyond. 

The evoked answer to the question, of course, is “nothing”; without honor, we as a community must recognize that there is nothing left to salvage. It’s like a tower of Jenga: as the bottom tiles of the tower are removed, one by one, the structure grows more and more unstable. It sways on its last limbs until one fatal blow is dealt, one specific tile removed, and then the structure comes crumbling down. Honor is the metaphorical bottom tiles of the Jenga tower. It constitutes the foundation of the educational system at Maggie Walker, and it supports and feeds into the relationships fostered between students and their peers as well as between students and teachers. When the foundation is destroyed, the pillars fall down, and these relationships ultimately collapse. This concept, I believe, is what the majority of students at Maggie Walker think is the impetus to preserve and continue displaying honor at Maggie Walker.

While this perspective on honor is admittedly justified, it possesses one key fallacy: it frames honor as almost fragile, in the sense that one push just might shake the foundation a bit too hard and topple the metaphorical tower. This undoubtedly does not align with the identity of honor. It is not a thing that should be preserved, like an ancient relic in a museum. It is not something that needs to be protected, like an obsolescent fortress in need of defense. 

Rather, honor should be seen as a breathing entity, one that is capable of growing over time. It changes with us and our perception of the world as we navigate the definition of the words “wrong” and “right.” To act “with honor” simply means to invite its hand on our shoulder, guiding us to strengthen our moral compass. It empowers us to find which values and principles are the most important while simultaneously keeping us accountable for our actions. In short, I fear that the viewpoint of honor as something that must be maintained creates an inference that honor is dying, when it is in fact very much alive. 

That is why, even though we all know the perpetually silent answer, the phrase found on our posters and bulletin boards throughout the school will remain a question. It reminds us that we have the power to actively choose honor every day for every decision we make, great or small. It forces us to think about the consequences of our actions and to ultimately come to the conclusion that the value of honor itself outweighs any artifact that outlasts its destruction.

While the idea of honor may seem like an immensely abstract concept, it presents itself in every facet of life, both in school and out of it. We use honor in every decision we make, even if it is as seemingly small as returning someone’s wallet or as significant as standing up for a friend in a time of need. Academically, honor is everywhere as well; students consciously choose to honorably perform on projects or tests instead of cheating or using artificial intelligence. From a bird’s eye view, honor may seem like a black-and-white topic. However, in reality, when we see honor broken down into these smaller actions or choices, it is crucial to discuss how these ostensibly insignificant decisions truly define honor.

Socrates once said, “The greatest way to live with honor in this world is to be what we pretend to be.” To make the choice to live with honor is to make the choice to take a risk and believe in the world around us; it is the choice to continuously and consciously strive to be a better human being.