Getting Started

We all have embarrassing moments that we would much rather forget, moments that make us want to crawl under a chair and shrivel away, moments that we often share with other people in laughter, but sometimes we share those in shame.

The topic of shame may remind us of all of our embarrassing moments—of what it was like to be embarrassed in public. But over the last few decades we have come to realize how deep shame can be in some cultures, even our own. And we realize that it is often related to its opposite: honor.

Let’s try to get our heads around a culture that was comprehensively dominated by the concern to achieve honor and avoid shame.