“The greatest way to live with honor in this world is to be what we pretend to be”

I take this quote from Socrates to mean that the best way to live a life of honor is to actually do all of the things we talk about doing, but fall short of in real life. Why is this the case? Because talking about doing what is right is easy. Actually doing it day after day is not.

This is also the case because nearly all people want to think of themselves as good. And most of us instinctively know what being a good person entails. We can even do these things at certain points in our lives.

And we would like to think that the bad elements of who we are, are small, isolated things, not representative of who we are as a whole. We overstate ur good qualities and understate our bad ones.

We don’t just pretend to be the ideal person, we pretend to be something more attainable; the ideal version of ourselves. Most of us aren’t and don’t make much of an effort to be, but we like to think we do.

Think about when you put the best version of yourself forward. Whether in a job interview, when trying to impress family, acquaintances, or a significant other. This often feels like an act, not the authentic version of you.

It isn’t that you don’t have that inside you, it’s just that your natural self is not as good, not as keen to show the best version of you. But if you want to live with honor, you have to be who you present yourself on those occasions when you want to impress others. But you have to do it authentically, without an expectation to get something out of it.

Even describing this is easier said than done. But living with honor requires discipline and sacrifice, and not doing things you would like to do. Most of us try to do this at times, but few can master it for a lifetime.