humility...

I think that almost every person out there is trying to be a pretty good person. I think most people are trying to overcome their demons and to be a cooperative member of society. I think that we are as motivated by a desire to be good as to eat or procreate. Maybe not quite as much, but close. There have been a lot of books (one example) written about how morality is a product of natural selection. I believe it, and I think it's an active force in most lives.

Humility is something that I think most people admire. It is something that is very hard to achieve on a personal level and I consider it to be a sort of summit of one's quest for personal goodness and morality. The people who I admire the most are people who seem to have reached it more than others.

I have often been guilty of being over-zealous and proving myself to be unreasonably proud. Any of you who know me personally can probably think of an example... or many. A wise man named Ezra Taft Benson gave a speech on pride. It's a speech by a previous president of the mormon church, but I think it can be read by people in all walks of life and appreciated as an intellectual work as well as a sermon. It contains a lot of references to the scriptures, which I think contain sound wisdom and counsel no matter what one's personal beliefs may be. Pride gets in the way of a person's progress socially as well as spiritually. We all know arrogant people and I think all of us find their attitudes to be a little bit grating. Extremely prideful people don't make good company for long. At least I don't think so.

Anyway, I write this because I've been thinking about myself and my desire to be more humble. It might sound totally cheese-ball to write about it, but I know adults who are amazingly humble and I admire them. I don't mean weak and spineless, but quietly respectful and humble. They don't think of themselves as being better than anybody, and they don't look down their nose to anybody. I love to talk to them and hear what they think and see how they respond to the world around them. I want to be like that.

So how do I get there? Is it just a product of being worn-down by life? I don't think so. I know people who have been through the ringer and have come out being bitter and hateful. I don't know exactly how to do it, except by making a conscious effort. So, there you have it. It's what's on my mind today. Boring. But jeez, I don't make you come read this!