Deshi:  Some hold that honor eventually will lead us into violence.  History is filled with this kind of honor.  How do we reconcile this history with the kind of honor of which you speak?

Sensei:  True honor need not be marked by violence - not periodically, not eventually, and certainly not inevitably.  You are speaking more of pride than you are of honor.  One does not need to regain honor from another because one cannot have it taken away by another.  Honor is a gift we give ourselves.  If we lose honor it is only because we ourselves have forfeited it.  If we wish to regain it, we simply have to give it to ourselves once again.  It is not something we can take from another, let alone beat from another.  Pride, on the other hand, which unlike honor is based upon the feelings and opinions of others, has us constantly at the mercy of others and thus constantly in need of defending ourselves.  In that defense, we may often turn to violence once we come to delude ourselves into believing that we are out of options.  Feeling “justified, carrying the flag of "no other choice," we reduce our fellow being into something less than ourselves.  Hence, violence is more likely to occur as it is difficult to remain honorable toward that which we have objectified as lesser.

Deshi:  Then what is it we need in order to give this gift we give to ourselves?

Sensei:  Save only one thing: Consistency.

Deshi:  We must do the same thing, always?

Sensei:  No.  We must always give this gift we give to ourselves - always.