Humility? Maybe not.
Humility?
As we grow up, we learn to be modest and humble. We learn that those are traits that need to be cultivated. (But solemnly do we know why that should be the case. For many, it is because the Bible tells us to be.) Humility serves us many purposes. This isn’t to say that we ought to be humble because it is a means to an end, but at the same time, why be something for the sake of just being something? From Kant to Russell, the need for humility was to define the place that an individual stood in either an intellectual order or in some type of morality. For some thinkers, it was necessary to steer away from danger, because that’s what pride brought. Some thinkers, such as Nietzsche, believed that a false humility could be a facade to weakness or hostility. C.S. Lewis believed that humility was freedom from the ego of the self. Then others thought the humility was a reminder of the self (Kierkegaard); that was the purpose of such existential examinations.
But is that where it ends?
I believe that humans get so caught up in definitions. So much so that it often hinders movement and action. Much like an individual who will start something after they get ALL of the information ( we all know this person will never start and even if they do, they won’t finish), many people are prone to think they are humble so long as they know all of the definitions and propositions it carries. They get so fixated on the word that they don’t realize that it is an action, and given time and effort, a state of being.
Being humble is not what you do, it’s who you are.
But is this a paradox? Can a person be humble if they say they are? Shortly put, I’m in the same camp as Lewis and Kierkegaard. It is a self-reflection. True humility does not have anything to do with what I do or who I am. To accept that true humility is not attainable, for we are fallen. But to know and remember that we are nothing but a speck of dust, a gust in the wind. But God (Romans 5:8). (Is it possible then, that it is not about humility or modesty, but honor?)
Take what is yours.
I get livid when someone tells someone from my team that they are lucky or that they’re good at guessing (Which, by the way, “good guessing” is a skillset. Being able to understand concepts from one area of study and then apply them to another area is a marker for competency.) But I can’t control what others say or believe. I don’t want them to believe that they got lucky or that their only skillset is good guessing. They should not let anyone take away the work they’ve put in.
This is where it gets tricky. We want our students to be humble (or honorable), but we also want them to take what is theirs. (Some people will mistake me for saying that I’m talking about accolades, grades, or medals. I am not. I am talking about the effort that was put forth.)
So here’s what I have for now: