Kierkegaard about Honor and Shame:
How much honor and shame are really worth if the setting that confers them isn't secure. Even when someone deserves honor, what solemnity can the world actually give it?
Imagine a student who truly earned praise (or truly earned a rebuke). Now imagine the ceremony is held in a stairwell. The teacher handing out the verdict is a wretched fellow. None of the respected people who normally dignify such events show up, and the audience is a random crowd of people with dubious reputations. The student's merit hasn't changed, but the honor feels hollow, and even the shame barely stings.
His point is that an honor is only as weighty as the court that awards it.
examples:
• An award from an organization later exposed as corrupt suddenly feels embarrassing to have on your résumé.
• Being "canceled" by an anonymous online mob can hurt, but it's a verdict from a random crowd, not from anyone whose judgment has real authority.
• Winning a popularity contest in a toxic workplace says more about the workplace than about you.
1 Corinthians 9:24–25 contrasts athletes who compete for a perishable wreath with Christians who compete for an imperishable one. Luke 14 is Jesus's parable about guests grabbing the best seats at a wedding feast, only to be moved down by the host, who is the one who really decides who is honored.
Example: Think of someone who quietly cared for a disabled sibling for decades, unrecognized, while others collected public praise for much less. In the world's stairwell ceremony she gets nothing. In eternity's hall of mirrors, what she did is fully seen. The same hall would expose the celebrated philanthropist whose giving was really about image.
How much honor and shame are really worth if the setting that confers them isn't secure. Even when someone deserves honor, what solemnity can the world actually give it?
Imagine a student who truly earned praise (or truly earned a rebuke). Now imagine the ceremony is held in a stairwell. The teacher handing out the verdict is a wretched fellow. None of the respected people who normally dignify such events show up, and the audience is a random crowd of people with dubious reputations. The student's merit hasn't changed, but the honor feels hollow, and even the shame barely stings.
His point is that an honor is only as weighty as the court that awards it.
examples:
• An award from an organization later exposed as corrupt suddenly feels embarrassing to have on your résumé.
• Being "canceled" by an anonymous online mob can hurt, but it's a verdict from a random crowd, not from anyone whose judgment has real authority.
• Winning a popularity contest in a toxic workplace says more about the workplace than about you.
1 Corinthians 9:24–25 contrasts athletes who compete for a perishable wreath with Christians who compete for an imperishable one. Luke 14 is Jesus's parable about guests grabbing the best seats at a wedding feast, only to be moved down by the host, who is the one who really decides who is honored.
Example: Think of someone who quietly cared for a disabled sibling for decades, unrecognized, while others collected public praise for much less. In the world's stairwell ceremony she gets nothing. In eternity's hall of mirrors, what she did is fully seen. The same hall would expose the celebrated philanthropist whose giving was really about image.