batlh? Humbug!
What is Honor? We speak of it constantly; it is a part of the very
fabric of our culture, but seldom do we really think about what it is.
We simply take it for granted.
Honor is the approbation of our fellow Klin. Honor is a strait-jacket.
Honor is a way of life. Honor is a denial of our basic nature.
No, perhaps not so much a denial as a restriction, a focus, a
channeling.
We Klingons are by nature a fierce, violent, predatory people. Left to
follow our instincts, we may well have exterminated ourselves long ago.
Like the Vulcan Surak, Kahless must have seen this, and devised a means
to prevent our extinction: Honor. Unlike Surak, this ancient sage
sought not to stifle our instincts altogether, but to make them conform
to a set of principles which he felt would make us stronger as a
species.
Honor tells us when it is acceptable to act as the beasts we are at
heart, and when it is not. By threatening to take away our Honor, the
approval of our peers, our society forces us to limit our violence. It
has tamed us, as a guard targ is tamed: still fierce, but under
control. Thus, Honor seeks to protect us from ourselves.
Still, one cannot help but wonder what we have lost in the process; is
not a wild targ a more impressive creature than a tame one?
I have spoken of rejecting Honor, and have been asked if I were mad.
"If not for Honor, how can we trust one another?", I am asked, and my
reply is this: Can you trust a TKnag? Yes! A TKnag knows nothing of
honor, but it can always be trusted to act in accordance with its
nature. So it should be with a Klingon. A Klingon should be guided by
instinct, and act in accordance with his heart.
This is not, however, a way of saying that we should do whatever we
want, and justify it as instinct. Instinct does not dictate that we
should lie, steal, betray a trust, or poison an enemy. These are
lessons taught to us by Honor.
"How can this be?", you wonder. This is how: by imposing the system of
Honor, with its rules, ramifications, contradictions and complexities,
upon the indefinable yet consistent dictates of instinct, a great
conflict is created.
In most Klingons, Honor wins out, and instinct is repressed.
In some Klingons the conflict itself wins out, producing those twisted
creatures the word 'dishonorable' usually brings to mind. Their
instincts tell them not to submit to Honor, but rather than reject it
outright, they adopt it in an inverted form, embracing the qualities
that it abjures.
In a very few Klingons, instinct wins; this produces individuals with
little regard for the conventions of Honor, but with great personal
integrity. They cannot be said to be Honorable, but they can always be
trusted to do what their heart tells them to be right.
So to those who ask "If not for Honor...", my answer is this: for
Integrity!
- Khaywolf
