Humility

Each month, my goal for writing this blog has been to express a topic on my mind, here in Japan.

And this month, the topic chosen has been on my mind for quite a while.

The topic is Humility, which for me, started with Humiliation.

Perhaps humiliating moments can lead to a sense of humility.

First, maybe one feels unworthy to be in the group. Embarrassed to be in the group because something is lacking.

And for me, it has been my lack of language, here in Japan.

This has often been humiliating.

Humiliating when getting a haircut, when I cannot explain my preference and must use a picture as a reference .

Humiliated in the classroom, when students assume I am competent in bi-lingual conversation.

Humiliated with the inability to understand small talk, or nearly all talk, in Japanese.

But,

These humiliating moments do not worry me. For they are only temporary. They are not to be taken personally, but instead to be transformative.

Transformed,

Into a sense of Humility.

Into a sense of humility, where I can see the group as a whole, from the outside looking in, for a brief moment.

A sense of humility in which I see that everyone has a story. That my character is not the main character. That we all exist in the stories of others in the room, therefore are responsible for respecting this unifying truth. 

My humiliation is not to be taken personally, for it is to be transformed into humility and taken with me.

J.S