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Today's
quotation:
Humility
is the world's antidote to self-righteousness. Self-righteousness is the
disease that assumes that if I say so, it must be so and if I want
it, I ought to
have it. A lot of wars, domestic and otherwise, could be
prevented
with the slightest touch of humility.
Joan
Chittister
Seeing
with Our Souls
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Today's
Meditation:
I keep
trying to practice humility, but I'm never sure if I get
it right. There's just too much self involved, too
much of the me who wants to take credit for things, who
wants other people to notice his accomplishments, who
feels that what he says is very important all the time and
should be heeded. I think that over the years, that
part of me has lessened its influence, but it's definitely
still there, still a part of who I am. I don't know
if I qualify as self-righteous, but I also don't know if I
qualify as humble.
Just
look at the benefits that humility can bring us. We
can have less conflict in our lives, fewer arguments and
disagreements, if we were just to be a bit more humble a
bit more often--and probably a bit more sincerely.
Humility cloaks us in authenticity, for the humble person
has no need or desire to be someone else or to put anyone
else down for any reason. When we're not concerned
with showing the world just how great we are, then we're
free to simply be ourselves and to respect
ourselves. And when we respect ourselves, we have no
need to try to make others think more of us.
There's
no need to put ourselves down in order to be humble.
Some of the strongest people I've ever known have been
incredibly humble, so their strength was something that
they didn't need to show off. When you meet people
like this, they share a common strength that doesn't need
any words to call attention to itself. They're nice
to be around because I never, ever fear that they're going
to put me down to make themselves look better, and I
sincerely hope that others feel that way with me.
I
keep trying, and I'll keep on trying until the day I die,
I suppose. If I lose my humility then I run the risk
of becoming arrogant or unpleasant or prideful, and I hope
that I don't take the route of any of those. I want
the humility that breeds my compassion and authenticity,
and that will help me to lead a life that will benefit
others because I realize that they're all just as
important as I am, all the time.
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