The Code of the Warrior

In her book, The code of the warrior, French says:

"The code of the warrior not only defines how he should interact with his own warrior comrades, but also how he should treat other members of his society, his enemies, and the people he conquers.  The code restrains the warrior.  It sets boundaries on his behavior.  It distinguishes honorable acts from shameful acts."

If a code is a distinction between honorable and shameful acts, this is not lacking on the reservations I have visited. Erich and I have discussed this many times.  Everyone seems to know the difference between right and wrong.  So why is there so much unethical behavior? Erich usually gives a two-fold answer - character and systems. First, some people just don't have the courage to do the honorable thing, even when they know what it is. Secondly, there is no system to force them to do so. It is not that non-Indians living off the reservation are more ethical and honorable, but they are usually more restricted by a system of checks and balances. The city council members may be just as likely to want to hire their own relatives or vote themselves travel funds for that conference in the Virgin Islands, but they have rules, regulations, policies and procedures that make it much more difficult for them to do so.

I asked Erich what impact could an ethics course possibly have. He said,

"In treatment, there is a saying, you can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink - but he will get thirsty standing there. The point is that his carefree days of being an alcoholic are over. He can no longer pretend it is all okay, and this nagging consciousness that he is in fact an alcoholic is what leads people to come back to treatment a second or third time and finally sober up. Similarly, people who take our course may not return to the work place and immediately be a model for character education. However, they will have learned the basics of moral courage, traditional Dakota values and moral reasoning. It will no longer be possible for them to pretend that it is all okay to buy a plane ticket for their wife to accompany them on a business trip, hire their unqualified nephew over a qualified candidate and so on. "