Humility

The lesson of humility has been at times the hardest for me to learn.  Through ordinary experiences of our physical journey on earth we are continually learning humility. 

Lessons in humility will not stop for any of us until we become completely selfless – and that is so very hard for even saints and scholars. The most base instincts of air, water, food and companionship have an instinct and demand of ME first. It is not easy to allow one’s ego to be as invisible as God’s.

Pope Francis put his humility on display during his first day as pontiff by stopping by his hotel to pick up his luggage and pay the bill himself.  One of his first missions was to wash the feet of others.  In his motorcar the pontiff picked up that beautiful, memorable boy called Dominic and kissed him. As a lesson in humility’s antonyms; while the name of the Pope was announced days earlier, CNN thought it important enough to scroll at the bottom of the TV, Anderson’s Cooper’s opinion of the Pope, as ‘breaking news’.  Cooper hoped this appointment of Pope Francis would renew HIS faith in the Catholic Church.  Humility in the Media???

For all I know, Cooper may not be smug and self-adoring at all.  But considering the timing and that he gets to shoot his opinions every evening on his show; I was actually thinking that it was just another example of how us humans cannot bask in the mystery of another for too long before pulling into our own. Center upon self-vs. Self – less.

 Those who achieve the most brag the least, and the more secure they are in themselves, the more humble they are. "True merit, like a river, the deeper it is, the less noise it makes". (Edward Frederick Halifax). We have all come across people like that and feel admiration for them.

 The Archbishop of the Military visited with us last week on the island.  I worked with the Chaplain of the Coast Guard to make this visit memorable and meaningful for weeks.  The Military Catholic community had Mass in English for the first time in over a year and I worked to ensure we had a very nice meal and party afterwards.  As much as it felt great to assist in all areas of this special visit; I was most pleased about the ‘afters’. Everyone was going to drop everything to attend, of course.   Or so I thought.  I have a great relationship with the Sisters/Missionaries of Charity in our local town.  They would be first in line for our great event.  Or, so I thought.

But, it turned out that the Sisters would NOT be in attendance. What?! I was disappointed…this event, with my hand it… its important!  The sick and the poor had to be fed, as they always do by the Sisters at 5pm every Saturday.   Of course this could be skipped for this one visit, or so I was sure.  Humbleness in me?

  Indeed, Mother Theresa’s order of Sisters remained the humble rustics who served while I was praised by man.   I thought for a fleeting second that the nuns were in the more perfect place, but that didn’t make me leave my party.  The wisdom they taught without a word ever uttered was that it was more important to be that humble rustic –and not neglect the soul… It dawned on me that it may be very wise to admit that none is more fragile than oneself. We need so much and often, in contrast, as a proportion, give so little.

 LACK OF HUMBLE OPINION OF SELF

Arrogance gives us a sense of entitled power, as we feel fleetingly invincible and important.  It causes some of us to be insensitive or cold.  And when tough times come and one feels beaten up; we are shocked, and a common response is to fight back from a place of anger/hate.  Maybe you’ve seen some folks end up with a strong resentment toward life. After all, from such a paradigm of self-importance, being humbled or brought down a notch does not seem fair at all. Some even create a mode of agnosticism around such theology – as they doubt God’s existence if they cannot be assured to have all they want, when they want it and in large amounts (without thinking through that if they always win and get all the goodies, someone else would always have to have THEIR reality altered and lose). But that matters little in our age with the busyness of life, is the value of the quiet and humble contemplative.  I struggle so…do you?

 We often confuse humility with timidity. Humility is not about being wretched or over pious in our self-loathing (which is just another way to draw attention to ourselves and momentarily prop up a diseased ego). Humility is all about maintaining our pride about who we are, about our achievements, about our worth – but without arrogance and sharing all that we’ve done.    It's about a quiet confidence without the need for selling of ourselves or what we have, lying or cheating or exaggerating truths. It's about being content to let others discover the layers of our talents without having to boast about them. It's a lack of arrogance & a quieting of the heart.  

 Escape Fromm Freedom

Freedom loving people cannot feel great about the goings-on in Washington this past week. Erich Fromm wrote a book years ago commenting about the WWII era called Escape From Freedom.   In this era, he feared that if humanity cannot live with the risks and responsibilities inherent in freedom, it would probably turn to authoritarianism, big government, fascism, and socialism.

 The hermit monk some 1,000 years ago expected little, hoped to give and suffer much, while daily humbling oneself before God. Today, the hermit inner city household often expects much from the government, hopes to be left alone from the guilt’s of charity, and finds no need to humble oneself before, well, anything. Many do not trust human nature, while conversely hoping to be properly recognized by all peers for their unique genius / talents. And through all this many still believe in a progressive unfolding of history from which technology and the human intellect will make all of us happier, live longer and be more fulfilled. We laugh at lifestyles, morals, technology, and practices of the 1950s or 1800s – without realizing that in 100 years, they will be laughing at our naïve self-certainties. We are so very similar to Fromm’s generation; and yet we think we are, instead, so very enlightened. Hubris and humility.

 Breach of Governance, Breach of Faith

Without a doubt this has been a hard week for the hopes and dreams of The White House. I felt as bad for President Obama, as I did for President Clinton when he testified and argued the meaning of the word ‘is’ under oath. “There IS nothing going on between us.” Well, when he said “is” did it mean today or last year or the future? Embarrassing and sickening for his family and the electorate to witness. Now we have the equally semantic conundrum involved with, “there is no there, there.” Reminds me of when I was younger and if I felt sad, one of my Aunties would simply say, “there, there, sweet child.”  Without humility, power will take you into a horrible existence as is evident in the lives of some many powerful people in the past and present.  "Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men." Lord Acton

 Most are now astutely aware that something is rotten in the state of the IRS with targeting/profiling certain groups. If it is all true, that’s a pretty bad notion considering the power & trust we have given to them. Only to possibly destroy ordinary citizens.  Then, there is a rat-like (or at least wet dog) odor, some would say, when Attorney General Holder testified before the Judiciary Committee on a host of issues including the monitoring of phone records belonging to AP journalists, held secret for two months.  I’m sure there is more to the story and possibly a justification for this.   And, the questioning over the loss of American life in Benghazi continues…

This may or may not be the work of smoke and mirrors, conmen and liars on every which side.  Patience is needed. Some of it is just the political game. But others noticed the self-styled or media induced messianic airs apparent in recent elections.

 SPIDERMAN SAID…

 “With great power comes great responsibility”, and without a sense of humility we cannot stand true towards using our power responsibly. 

Peddling, winning elections and incivility is just, seemingly part of politics. The humble, unassuming monk would never convince, obtain (or seek) nomination in the first place. I’m not going to jump in and say that all of politicians are crooks; but this business, is, by nature crooked.  Washington’s power is so big – no President may be able to tame it. And if you try to topple it; there is a media that is paid in full, and will destroy you.

 We have to be careful to take our time and learn to understand how this all happened.  However, if our president is telling me on TV that he is receiving the news about these scandals & crisis overseas the same time as I am –then, we should feel suspicious, as he has shown himself to be far more intelligent than that.  I thought that they had top secret Men in Black intelligentsia units.  Hasn’t the Government ever seen the show 24…?   

  A passionate, fierce, and combative fight is not indicative of a fallen political era.  Entitlement, Arrogance, and Pretension is.   All are found in abundance in Washington today.

We need a restoration of humility in politics—and not the kind that comes when you’ve been caught doing something wrong.   It should be about respecting the public dollars over which you have been given stewardship, (IRS & politicians) understanding your own fallibility.  How about treating others with dignity even when you disagree with them. We need more reluctant, quiet, public servants like George Washington that are more eager to return to their farm vs. “serving” a community since 1955 as has Representative John Dingell, for 57 years! Perhaps some humility is in line?

 SWELLED HEADS ARE NOT ATTRACTIVE

This last election was a destructive one.   Ideas have consequences and most people deeply care. Political parties are like tribes; the party members in the tribe shape your values and influence your allegiance to the group. We fight so hard for our side and often miss the forest through the trees. Many more are commenting that the two sides are so very similar and nothing will change until a new force tears down all of the corruption and gets back to what made our country strong. In truth the big government juggernaut came from the Bush GOP White House as well as the Obama Presidency. But most Americans do not have a clear picture of what happens when we reach $20,000,000,000,000 in debt. They’re just numbers to most of us. In our own self-interest, we will possibly not vote for real change until our disability, pension, social security, Medicare, food stamp check stops arriving. But by then, it will most likely be too late and our country will be in temporary or long term decline.

 Who said ‘stand down’ and leave 4 Americans ‘behind’?

Some folks have described the Benghazi cover-up and the IRS scandal having more to do with winning elections, under false pretenses. They say that the White House and the State Department altered the CIA's talking points -- not just in one minor particular, as Jay Carney claimed, but through 12 separate versions.  I truly believe Hilary Clinton is suffering greatly since the Benghazi affair – her health went down and she has not looked well at all.  Yet, she had been able to shout indignantly when questioned, “What does it matter.”   Both Obama and Clinton have delivered grand orations to enormous adoring crowds – so this public scrutiny is a tough pill for them to take. I actually ache for them, I ache more for the families of the deceased.  We don’t need to know everything, I don’t really care about Susan Rice’s talking points…I do care about why we left boys behind.  Was it just a bad day where nothing would go right?  Special Forces do not stand down easily and leave anyone behind.

 Breach of Faith
Today’s in-your-face, take-no-prisoners style of politics is catapulted by a 24-hour news cycle and the ability of anonymous internet postings to inflate egos or destroy reputations. It rewards the pithy comebacks. It does not seek out the introspective, balanced and substantive way of making important public decisions. It rewards larger-than-life personalities and cults of celebrity instead of uplifting the down-to-earth, hardworking next door neighbor we all really want to be serving.

 Real Love, Grace and Humbleness recently…

We are an odd generation that often finds our heroes not in those that quietly serve, but instead in the social chameleons that shape shift daily and stand for nothing but themselves (actors, athletes, politicians and models). Instead I seek…

 Dominic Gondreau, the little boy that Pope Frances picked up to kiss as the boy wrapped his arms around the Pope.  His body warped by cerebral palsy – yet he smiled wildly with every fiber of his being -- showing what many would perceive as his helplessness. But alas no, the boy felt blessed and the Pope appeared humble. 

 “Everybody can be great...because anybody can serve. You don't have to have a college degree to serve. You don't have to make your subject and verb agree to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love.” - Martin Luther King Jr.