Humility in Everyday Life - Part Two

Humility in Everyday Life – Part Two

Humility is the absolute opposite of grandiosity.  Possibly, people who fail to cultivate this personal attribute live as "egomaniacs with inferiority complexes." Leaders in any profession fall prey to demanding outward displays of their status.  Name plates, reserved parking spaces, corner offices and box seats in the theatre, opera house and professional athletic events combine to bestow the accoutrements of leadership.  Without question, these external fringe benefits cannot supply leaders with vision, confidence and ability.  If a leader questions himself at his core, he does not possess humility.  His uncertainty equals the unquestionable certitude of a colleague who knows everything and remains unreachable refusing to learn anything new.  In the former instance, the leader resembles Dickens' Uriah Heep in David Copperfield.  Heep constantly describes himself as a perpetually humble man.  Actually, Heep suffers with an immeasurable inferiority complex as he resents the "high society" and upper crust people he must serve.  Heep's disdain for them eventuates in moral, ethical and professional failure as he attempts to steal their wealth and property.  A leader of the latter ilk reminds me of a recent U. S. Secretary of Defense who pridefully ignored his administrative peers.  This man left to his personal resolve possibly would have engaged our country in potential nuclear war with a Middle Eastern rival.  Neither type of leader possesses humility. Both kinds have egos that fluctuate between a mountain summit and a deep valley. 

Life's mundane tasks force us to embrace daily living with average people.  Remembering the existential challenges normal people face is critical for any leader or celebrity.  Without remaining in touch with these realities, leaders may become hard hearted and indifferent to people whom they serve.  Chances are in taking out the trash a leader will encounter a homeless person who may be scavenging for food.  What an amazingly vivid picture that humankind has not yet learned how to distribute equitable resources.  Also, you will see people who pilfer everyone's trash to retrieve the recyclable pieces as a source of income.  The complexity of poverty creates a sub job market as these people gather and sell these redeemable items to subsist.  These visual lessons forcibly remind leaders their decisions fundamentally affect people’s practical lives.  Accordingly, leaders through mundane tasks learn to ask a vital question.  "How does this decision, policy or procedure directly affect the people whom I serve?" 

The grocery store is full of interesting, compelling and colorful conversations.  Some people gossip with neighbors and friends.  There are arguments which began as miscommunications but mushroomed into full blown verbal confrontations.  It is personally hurtful to overhear a mother explain to a child that they cannot afford a trinket because they barely have enough money to buy much needed food and dry goods.  It greatly pains me to listen to the hard reality in which many people live.  Seeing the direct poverty in which people live is very hard.  Grocery store conversations depict life's daily fragility for many people.  

If leaders and celebrities never shop for food, they become more and more distant from the hard choices constituents and fans face.  As I write, I recall an episode in which a grocery worker sent on a home delivery looked at the price of a bottle of wine.  Finding the amount unbelievable, he questioned the manager as to its accuracy.  Naturally, the manager reassures the delivery clerk about the correctness of the price.  In turn, the worker responds by stating that a family in his neighborhood would eat for a week for the cost of that bottle of wine. As leaders and celebrities overhear these kinds of conversations, they hopefully maintain focus upon the real purposes of elected office, possibilities of fame and potential to create a more just and equitable society.  The mentor's wise recommendations to his protégé enable him to remain in meaningful contact with average people.