Honor in Representation | Katie Gu

Growing up, I had always perceived the quality of honor to be an intangible, abstruse concept, one that was buried in various actions: doors held open for strangers, integrity over cheating, and truth over deception. As a result of some quaint notion, I never conceived that one could find honor in representation.

Two summers ago, I discovered this alternate medium of honor. After earning a spot on the US National Synchro Team, I traveled to Milan, Italy for the 2011 Mediterranean Cup. There, while meeting and speaking to girls from a vast array of countries, I realized that there was something implicitly altered in my carriage and comportment. I was holding myself to a higher standard of dignity and poise than my habitual demeanor. As a result of being consciously aware of my presence as a representation of my country, a certain degree of honor was placed onto my shoulders, and I elevated myself to meet those standards. From my experiences that summer, I realized that I needed to integrate those very levels of decorum I held during the competition to all the situations and aspects of life.

The opportunity to represent comes with certain expectations. That one should carry a particular degree of esteem and finesse is certainly an implicit, if not explicitly stated, stipulation. Although these obligations present themselves more saliently when members of an organization are placed outside of their communities, the degrees of honor in their carriage should be kept at a consistent, unwavering level, not to be shaken by the circumstance of their environments.