Why is it that so many people are so disconnected from the general human community? It is because compassion is a dying virtue. Compassion is not just feeling sorry for someone, everyone does that, but rather doing something about it. True compassion is a sense of fellowship and a bond to the larger human community that calls people into action to help others.

With a loss of this fundamental sense comes the loss of another: honor. There is hardly any honor left in the world, at least true honor. What I mean by this is devotion to a cause or person that is rooted in love and compassion itself. If people are losing their compassion and ability to feel for others than how can they be expected to show devotion and respect that is true and honest? Honor and respect have almost reversed meanings over time. Where honor and respect used to be things that bound people in love and companionship, they are now more barriers than anything else.

If someone holds a position of respect, it is almost a position of demanding and overshadowing authority. This shows that respect has no real meaning anymore, that it is not rooted in love and awe but fear and obedience. Of course, it is understandable that respect and honor may be toned down through the ages, as people in general become more educated. For instance, no soldier today would commit bushido. Instead, he would beg like a dog for his life. In the end, the people of today are less compelled by honor and they view it more as stupidity.

This could be a problem or it could be good for us, but either way the times of honor and respect must be cherished for what they are, simpler and more direct periods in human history, when people weren’t a bunch of self-centered pigs and actually realized their small position in society. To commit bushido is something that defines honor, and the way of the warrior that has now passed on.