Virtue #4 - Nobility

This virtue has the most meaning for me.  As a child, I not only grew up with stories of Ivanhoe, Robin Hood, John Wayne and Superman, I had the real-life examples of my grandmother taking care of my bed-ridden grandfather, slowly dying of emphysema, and my dad taking care of my mom and us kids so my mom could go to school and get her nursing degrees (Three of them!).  In all of what they did, I never saw complaint, nor did they shy from doing what needed to be done.  My grandma and my father did what they did out of love for their spouse.  That love ennobled their efforts.

Mireles writes that the virtue of nobility "sets the warrior apart."  Warriors do not do what they do because they have to, but because they have chosen to do so, a noble choice.  However nobility, as Mireles describes it, is not about that choice, but in how the Warrior  relates to others.  A police officer demonstrates nobility when he/she treats their prisoner with respect.  A Warrior demonstrates nobility when they treat a prisoner with respect. A master teacher demonstrates nobility when they treat the at-risk student with as much professionalism as their top student.  It's a matter of basic respect.

Mireles writes this about respect:
          "True respect is caring about people at a deep level, a caring
           that is related to nobility.  Respect is manifested through the
           warrior's action, and nobility is his persona.  one cannot exist
           without the other.  Warriors carry these virtues in their hearts,
           and it is what separates them from mercenaries." (p. 61)

This describes the Warrior's Paradox.  In the Sheepdog analogy, Sheepdogs are described as having a capacity for violence, but a love for their sheep.  Thus, Sheepdogs have to have a deep respect for humanity, even while they may have to engage in violence against those who seek to harm others.  Those who are able to do so demonstrate true nobility.

Master teachers learn to look beyond the behavior and see the hurt underneath.  That doesn't mean they don't hold the child accountable for their actions, but they are still human beings, and are still due respect.  Master teachers will do this, and try to address the hurt at the same time.  They don't take such actions personally.  After 23 years of dealing with middle school students, I know that if I were to have taken everything that happened personally, I would have gone insane long ago, or I would have quit and sought a new career field.

Society has given the Warrior, the Sheepdog, the teacher, a tremendous amount of trust by putting us into positions in which we protect others.  By maintaining respect for others, by holding ourselves to a higher standard, we demonstrate nobility, and thus maintain the trust that society has given us.

Are you up for that challenge?

Source:

Christensen, Loren W.. Warriors: more on living with courage, discipline, and honor. Rev. ed. Boulder, Colo.: Paladin, 2010. Print.