This year marks the 50th anniversary of Harper Lee's epic novel. I read it along with the middle school students I work with and wrote the following.....
“You just hold your head high and keep those fists down.”
--Atticus Finch to daughter Scout, pg. 87
It’s difficult to hold your head high if you don’t know why you’re supposed to be holding it up. When Atticus Finch told his inquiring daughter Scout to hold her head high and fists down, she had little idea of why he would tell her that. Atticus didn’t give a detailed reason: all she knew was that her father was asking her to do something difficult, and that was enough. She trusted her father. She likely had never heard the word “integrity.” But her father's integrity was precisely why she could trust him. Scout had implicit trust in his understanding of things and the goodness and rightness of anything he had to tell her. Besides that, Atticus never asked anything for himself. He was unselfish and trustworthy and good. Scout did not want to let that man down. She knew, when other kids ridiculed her father for defending a black man--and they surely would--why she could hold her head high.
It struck me while reading this interaction that Atticus modeled two character qualities that one might wish to see in every father. These qualities are often lacking in people—but it does more damage when it’s lacking in fathers. Atticus had great integrity, and he was what some call a “good man.” If a man has integrity, it means he stands for what is right, that he has the moral fiber to do what he knows to be the right thing: He will remain true to his word. (We used to say about a person like this, "The man's word is his bond").
“Good” is a more nebulous word, especially in this day and age when everyone has their own idea of what constitutes right and wrong. The list of meanings for the word “good” is quite extensive; however, they boil down to a few key ideas: moral excellence, high quality; a person who does what is proper and right, a person who is kind and serves others above themselves; a person who, in relationships, is honest, genuine, responsible, and dependable.
Because of the qualities that Atticus displayed, one could say he was a “real man.” Most boys wonder often whether they will be a “real man” or not--including yours truly. Girls grow up wondering what it is that would make them a genuine, feminine woman. Men and women are different in fundamental ways, but there is something that needs to be part of their life if they are to be the “real man” or the “real woman” that they dream about. That thing is modeled by the Atticus Finch who counseled his daughter Scout to “hold your head high and keep your fists down.”
It's tempting to say that Atticus Finch was a man of courage. He was; however, people are mistaken if they think that courage means that a person is not afraid. Atticus was plenty afraid of what he knew might--or would--happen. Rather, true courage is demonstrated when people do what they know is right in spite of being deathly afraid of what could happen to themselves. It was a lesson I learned first on the battlefield and have since seen demonstrated in people seeking to live a life of integrity and service to others. Such was what made Atticus Finch a real man.
My prayer is that I would be a real man like he was: that I, my children and those I might touch in this life, would be just like him.
