If you were to choose a person to honor, and a method by which to honor them, who would you choose and what would you do?
There are times in your life when one person has a significant impact on your growth or development. You may wish, at some point, to honor that person, and the way in which they influenced you.
Which raises a couple of related questions.
The first question is: how do you decide? What metric should you use, when evaluating the influence someone has had on you, if that person merits an honor?
Listen to a podcast where Michael and Lee discuss a related question: ‘What gives a person value?’ We also discuss a bonus question: ‘What makes you you?’
A second question is: what do you do? In what way can you convey, to yourself and others, that an honor of some sort is being bestowed?
The exact nature of the honor can vary quite drastically, based on a number of different variables. For instance, it may depend on the person being honored, if they are alive or dead, and what the relationship was between you.
Or it might depend on the nature of the influence. You may choose, for instance, to honor the role your parents played in your upbringing by visiting them, or calling them regularly.
It may also depend on the resources available to the person doing the honoring. It can be as simple as a card in the mail, or as elaborate as a dedicated building.
Have you ever honored someone, and if so, how? If not, can you think of a person and a way in which you might do the honoring?
Related questions: Who is the most important person in your life? How could you show your appreciation for others more? Who would serve on your personal board of directors? Who was your best teacher? Do you give to charitable or social causes?
I recently made a contribution in honor of someone I have been thinking of doing so for quite some time. I contributed to a Political Science scholarship fund to honor my PoliSci honors thesis advisor, Professor Terrance Ball. When I was in college, a needs-based scholarship helped me continue attending school during a difficult financial time. This year, I stepped up and contributed and did so to recognize him.
Why? As most Intellectual Roundtable followers know, I am a passionate heirloom gardener. But it didn’t have to be this way. The genesis of my deep care for how my food is produced and how I could play a role in it comes from my interactions with Professor Ball. A couple of years before he was my thesis advisor, Professor Ball turned me on to the agrarian essayist, poet, and novelist, Wendell Berry. I was deeply intrigued by Berry’s take on local economies as well as the merits of gardening to understand the entire natural food process.
One day, about a month before graduation, I told Professor Ball about my home in rural Wisconsin and (separately) that I had nothing important to do before beginning a job in September. He “instructed” me to go home and grow vegetables and gather fruits from the woodland on our farm. Almost immediately afterward, I asked my parents if this would be okay. “Um, sure,” was the answer.
On the weekends leading up to my move back home, I headed back to till up two large garden plots and start the cool-weather veggies. Once I made the move, I immersed myself in gardening, foraging, and learning how to prepare food for freezing. I also spent hours with my mom’s gardening and food preparation books. Rodale’s “Gardening Answers” and Carol Hupping’s third edition of “Stocking Up” became my go-to guides. My mom also talked to her friends about my summer venture. A few of them donated some of their excess garden produce for me to preserve. Immediately upon moving back to Minneapolis, I bought a chest freezer and filled it with the result of my hard work.
Ever since then, I’ve called myself a gardener. Eventually, I would learn about the value heirlooms provide to keep our seed supply diverse naturally and sustainably. None of this would have happened without the prodding of Professor Ball.
I am glad I finally made this contribution to a scholarship fund to help more students (like me) afford the costs of going to college. And I hope that Professor Ball, wherever he is, finds out I did so to honor him.