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A San Clemente Border Patrol Agent, who for
obvious reasons wishes to remain anonymous, decided to write the following
in response to management prominently posting a sign in the San Clemente
station to improve morale. The sign had the BP motto: "Honor First".
[BEGIN]
It is decidedly refreshing to see that those who manage this
station have posted a motivational sign prominently in the station area.
This action would make it seem that they have finally recognized that a
morale problem exists and that they are finally resolved to act on a plan of
improvement. While it is wholly understood that the management of this
station does not have final authority of all aspects of policies and
practices within the agency, it is however understood that their role in the
pitifully low morale of the station is a prominent one.
If one makes a statement invoking a term such as "honor" is
would be reasonable to assume that the person making the reference believes
that they are in possession of that trait. We may be quick to point out the
hypocrisy of our management making a reference to "honor" so let us analyze
the term in detail before making abrupt assumptions.
The Merriam-Webster
dictionary provides the following definition of honor:
1a: good name or public
esteem: Reputation. b: a showing of usually merited respect.
2: privilege
3: a person of superior
standing -- now used especially as a title for a holder of high office.
4: one whose worth brings
respect or fame.
5: the center point of the
upper half of an armorial escutcheon
6: an evidence or symbol of
distinction: as a: an exalted title or rank b (1): badge, decoration.
7: Chastity, Purity.
8a: A keen sense of
ethical conduct: Integrity b: one's word given as a guarantee of
performance.
Honor, according to the definition, is a desirable trait: one
that implies a person has integrity and trustworthiness. From this
definition it is easy to agree that each and every agent in this agency
should seek to place honor first in his or her own conduct. An evaluation of
the San Clemente management as a whole against the definitions of "honor"
would limit the use of the term to: 3 – a person of superior standing -- now
used especially as a title for a holder of high office; 6: an evidence or
symbol of distinction: as a: an exalted title or rank b (1): badge,
decoration. All other definitions of the term ring hollow when applied
objectively to our management.
Having now the epiphany that most of our management lacks
"honor", we can discern the hypocrisy of their invocation of the term "honor
first". Each and every one of us, as agents, have instances that come
immediately to mind when we hear them make a reference to honor or
integrity. They have demonstrated through their own actions on many
occasions that they do not possess or practice the traits that they
themselves espouse. It is incumbent upon us though, to apply honor in our
daily lives, both personal and professional, so that we are not cast in the
same light as those who would presume themselves to be our moral superiors.
[END] |
