Definition: Humility

Having been recently humbled myself, and after some consideration on the subject, I’ve decided our next definition destination will be humility. Recently, upon asking an English major’s opinion of my blog, I had the opportunity to be humbled and this not only gave me the idea for the current post, but encouraged me to try harder.

Humility is knowing your strengths, accepting your weaknesses, and seeking neither praise nor discipline. Humility also requires that you think of others before yourself while not forsaking yourself. I think Ken Blanchard said it well, “Humility does not mean you think less of yourself, it means you think of yourself less.”

Humility is paramount in creating a better world.

How does humility apply to us, Gen Y? Over the past decade or so, I would even say going back to women’s lib and the racial tension of the middle of the last century, there has been a shift in American culture. This shift has taken us from one extreme to another, and with a natural flow I’m afraid. That shift being from the patriotic self-sacrificing individuals of our past, to the selfish and conceited individuals of our present.

Our past selves were a seemingly inevitable construct of the era we faced. A fledgling nation coming out of a depression and facing two world wars, we almost had to come together and sacrifice for each other as a matter of survival.

Enter the human rights movement. After surviving that deep set depression and those two world wars our motives began to change. We’d been through a lot, and sacrificed much to be left with what? A prosperous nation, dominated by straight white men. Many men and women of all colors and walks of life sacrificed as much as this supposed upper caste and were forced to settle for what was left or fight for more.

Now the focus has shifted to the individual over the whole. The question today seems to always be, “What’s in it for me?” This focus on individuality is, I believe, a healthy step in our social development if taken in stride. Taken to an extreme it would essentially lead to anarchy. Every man or woman for themselves. While that might be a hyperbolic situation, it lends a certain amount of perspective.

Somewhere between these two extremes lies the balance of humility and individualism. We can protect and preserve our own virtues while being courteous to those of people around us. Our rights can be upheld without infringing on the rights of others. This can only happen if we, as a species, stop being so selfish and…dare I say…childish.

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