Skip to main content

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













Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Take Your Time

  I arrived at the bottom of Mt. Fuji at 7am. Before starting, a man said that I had 12 hours to complete the trail, in order to catch the final bus home for the night. Otherwise, I would have to sleep on the mountain. I thought 12 hours was a sufficient amount of time, but it caused me to rush at first. After a half-hour, I was exhausted and contemplated quitting. The ground felt like sinking rocks the size of tennis balls. The trail was steep.  What should I do? I asked myself. Go back down? Rest? Go only half-way up? Then it occurred to me, go slowly. A motto for life, perhaps. Life may feel fast, but if one takes their time, slowly and steadily, they can enjoy it more. Moving forward, the next 4 hours consisted of a slow ascent up the mountain. I was literally stepping about 6 inches at a time. This allowed me to keep my breath, something I lost at the beginning. Eventually, I found myself at the 8th station, the final stop before the summit.  It was 1pm. 6 hours befo...
1 comment
Read more

Joy

It is Golden Week here in Japan, the time of year when people take a break from business as usual. Instead, this week is reserved for leisure, relaxation and vacation. Golden Week is a joyful time. So, I figured that would be the topic for this month. Joy. It is quite evident that I am surrounded by it. Although this society is known for a disciplined work ethic, it does so in a joyful manner. Or so it seems to me. I can recall passing through Tokyo Station, once. It was about 9pm on a Tuesday. I was exhausted after a full day of work. The train was stopped and I was gazing out the window. Sitting next to me were a group of smartly-dressed professionals of some sort. They were chatting and laughing until one man got off the train. Now, in my home society, in the United States, the natural thing to do when leaving a conversation is to exchange goodbyes and walk away. But, not in this instance at Tokyo Station. The man did not walk away after departing his colleagues. Instead, he stood d...
Post a Comment
Read more

Learnings

This month, Mother Nature showed her teeth by shocking me awake with an earthquake.  Other than that, life has been rather smooth. My work travels have taken me throughout Chiba, Yokohama, and Saitama. Each day has been a world on its own. It has been months since I've spent more than two days in a row in the same town. This has allowed me to encounter the hidden corners of a unique country. And often times, I cannot recognize what is written or spoken around me, which may seem frantic, but has actually made my internal dialogue crystal clear. Like an awakened inner soul that can now be heard. On an opposite note, I stand in front of hundreds of students each week, thus spotlighting my outer self. My chosen words. My body language and expressions. I have learned to take up space with my presence, for this is necessary to hold 30 peoples attention at once. This combination, simultaneously learning about my inner soul and outer self, has been a good learning so far. Perhaps our inner...
Post a Comment
Read more