Apparently he felt inspired to give me these gifts.
When I called in for a visit he handed me a magazine with the headline ‘How to change your attitude’.
“James, are you trying to tell me something?” I said.
“Not me, but I’m pretty sure God is,” he said.
Humility is the ability to speak honestly about yourself. That may not be as easy as you think.
In 1980 I heard a distinguished academic deliver a speech to a graduating class of nurses.
She spoke about her struggle with imposter syndrome. She talked about panic attacks and feeling inadequate. She was a farmer’s daughter who was lucky enough to possess a keen intellect.
Her message that day was simple: “Be yourself and that will be good enough.”
Humility fosters healthy relationships. Very few people will judge you if you came from humble beginnings.
Our Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, was raised by a single mother. A notorious Governor-General, Sir John Kerr, was the son of a boilermaker. We all have a past.
Success is a small amount of luck and a whole lot of hard work.
Humility is the key to connecting to others.
Unfortunately, status anxiety is still alive and well in Australia. Working class people want to be middle class. Middle class people want to be upper middle class and upper middle class people want to be captains of industry.
Perhaps it is time to have a conversation about this problem. In my opinion being content is something to strive for.
The first step to humility is gratitude.
When my father turned 80, the family gathered to celebrate his milestone. He was a train driver and his greatest achievement was to put a roof over our heads and food on the table. But that meant I could finish high school and then study at college.
It never occurred to me that I needed to improve myself. When I acknowledged the contribution he made to my life he bowed his head for a moment and said quietly, “You have no idea how much that means to me.”
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