leonardcohenforum.com

The Guy
Who said, "Honor Thy Parents"
(Well,
Maybe not in old English)
And didn't exclude
From this
Those who dishonored
Their parenthood
(And progeny)
Helped to
Pass along
Too often
A visitation
(They really could have lived without)
To those 3 and 4 generations
Of sons and daughters
(Of you know whats)
Who didn't find Exodus
From the co-mingling
Of honor and wrong.

Copyright 2008, by me, under my legal name. All rights are reserved.

ok,
and what if we took this idea a little further and the saying was "dis-honor your parents".
Let's postulate what might happen?

Your business may improve, Steven ?

Hi Mat,

Glad that a dis-honoring of parents didn't make the top 10 commandments. And
Moses who brought down those tablets, as a Father figure, was pissed off enough
at the dishonor shown him and God, to have broken the original ten commandments
containing carved stones. -- Dishonoring isn't usually the way to bring forth the
best qualities in the dishonored and those who do the dishonoring, of course.
Honoring, though, can encourage attitudes, behavioral modeling,
acceptances, that, otherwise, might not be present. When so, it isn't
always to beneficial effect.

Not sure what you mean by my "business may improve."

it is still possible & proper to honour a parent who has dishonoured his/her parenthood.
Especially as an adult.
When you behave honourably, you honour all who contact you.
Being an upstanding person honours the parent.
If the parent is a crook, then going into the family business also honours the parent.
It is also possible that the parent won't recognize the honour bestowed upon him; does this mean the honour is false?

Hi Manna,

"it is still possible & proper to honour a parent who has dishonoured his/her parenthood.
Especially as an adult." Yes.
"When you behave honourably, you honour all who contact you." Yes. A nice observation,
nicely stated.
"Being an upstanding person honours the parent." Yes, even when not recognized
by the parent and even when it is despite the parent's behavior.
"If the parent is a crook, then going into the family business also honours the parent." This
one is problematic if the entry into the business is a continuation of crookedness, though,
the saw about "honor among thieves" comes to mind.
"It is also possible that the parent won't recognize the honour bestowed upon him; does this mean the honour is false?" I don't think so. We can even honor someone who
has passed on so it would seem to follow that recognition isn't determinative
of the veractity of honor.

Seems, also, that honoring a parent can take its focus upon an inherent goodness/potential/
positive values whether or not the person reflected these things through his/her behavior.

"If the parent is a crook, then going into the family business also honours the parent." This
one is problematic if the entry into the business is a continuation of crookedness, though,
the saw about "honor among thieves" comes to mind.

yeah, agreed. It was a quick post, and I didn't want to put the time into explaining everything and give it a lot of thought. But now I am home, relaxed, winding down from a long trip. (I will post about the Monday concert in Montreal and Leonard's sensual snore style singing elsewhere, probably later.)

My point was that you can honour one by honouring all, or you can honour one by dishonouring others. I don't know if that is true. I do know it's not nice, and not how I want to live. Sometimes a person may have to decide whether the parent is the more important thing to honour or if others at large are.

"To thin own self be true"
as the saying goes
is the place to start.
Others can accompany if they play the same tune
or at least, harmonise.

In Act I, scene iii of Hamlet, the character of Polonius prepares his son Laertes for travel abroad with a speech (ll.55-81)

http://www.enotes.com/hamlet/thine-own- ... n-analysis


To Thine Own Self Be True

"Yet here, Laertes! Aboard, aboard for shame!
The wind sits in the shoulder of your sail,
And you are stay'd for.
There ... my blessing with thee!
And these few precepts in thy memory
Look thou character. Give thy thoughts no tongue,
Nor any unproportion'd thought his act.
Be thou familiar, but by no means vulgar.
Those friends thou hast, and their adoption tried,
Grapple them to thy soul with hoops of steel;
But do not dull thy palm with entertainment
Of each new-hatch'd, unfledg’d comrade. Beware
Of entrance to a quarrel but, being in,
Bear't that th' opposed may beware of thee.
Give every man thy ear, but few thy voice;
Take each man's censure, but reserve thy judgement.
Costly thy habit as thy purse can buy,
But not express'd in fancy; rich, not gaudy;
For the apparel oft proclaims the man;
And they in France of the best rank and station
Are of a most select and generous chief in that.
Neither a borrower, nor a lender be;
For loan oft loses both itself and friend,
And borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry.
This above all: to thine own self be true,
And it must follow, as the night the day,
Thou canst not then be false to any man.
Farewell; my blessing season this in thee!"

-- William Shakespeare

Hi Mat,

Good travel instructions from father to son in that scene.

That's right! Tell 'em how to build relationships between kids and parents!