4H’s Part 2: Humility is Essential
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In the first article of this series, you learned about the value, do no harm. The 2nd key value of my 4H’s is Humility.
A wise woman once told me that she is a “recovering perfectionist”. I love this sentiment, as it highlights that we are all works in progress, who are imperfect and subject to making mistakes.
Oops I did it again
I make many mistakes, often. “Owning them” preferably with aplomb and a curtsy after falling up the stairs on the way to the stage before addressing an audience makes it a lot easier to handle life’s ups and downs literally. (Indeed, I have fallen up the stairs and have curtsied more than once while mounting a stage).
To be humble is to recognize that we are all fallible human beings stumbling our way through life and that I am no more important that anyone else.
Who do we value?
The COVID-19 pandemic has hopefully taught us that the “unskilled” (aka undervalued and underpaid) workers who pick our crops, stock our shelves, and do their best to care for our aging elders in residential facilities are in fact essential workers.
Photo credit Unsplash
If COVID has not taught us a lesson or two I don’t know what will; including that we are mere beings who are sometimes at the mercy of a virus.
Coming from a blue collar town and as the daughter of a dad who worked with his hands as a welder, I have come to recognize and respect the value of people and the various roles that they play.
It has been my custom to greet the cleaners each morning in the office towers where I have worked in the same fashion that I greet my immediate colleagues. And it is my sincere belief that I am no more important than anyone else.
Honest apologies and owning up
Humility also hinges on being able to admit when you are wrong. Someone once told me that apologizing early and often is integral to harmonious relationships. Did I mention that I make many mistakes, often?!
Owning up to mistakes and apologizing rather than letting resentment fester is vital to getting along with others; especially because I want to do more than coexist with my fellow humans.
I want to collaborate and co-create toward human betterment. Having the humility to fess up when I am wrong is a way of acknowledging that I am flawed, fallible, and no better than anyone else.
My previous article focused on inadvertently doing harm in spite of our best intentions. The next key value I’ll share is humour, and it is a laughing matter.