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Discussion: Humility

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Sir Edward:

Next virtue for discussion is Humility. I'm starting it a day sooner since I figured Truth would quiet down relatively quickly.

Dictionary.com defines it as such:


--- Quote ---the quality or condition of being humble; modest opinion or estimate of one's own importance, rank, etc.
--- End quote ---

The obvious intent behind having Humility as a chivalrous virtue is that a knight should not be boastful or arrogant. But what is probably open to debate is how far do you take it? Clearly it's not meant to be self-denigrating or show a lack of self-respect. And on the flip side, knights often did celebrate their deeds.

I think to a certain degree, Humility at it's heart implies truthfulness about the self. That is, it's OK to speak truthfully of your strengths as well as your weaknesses. Both your successes and failures. But when speaking well of your own deeds and abilities, it is important to do so in a truthful and non-arrogant manner, avoiding exaggeration, overt self-praise, and conceit.

But I think it also implies speaking well of others when the opportunity presents itself. To be more quick to praise others than yourself.

Thoughts?

Sir Wolf:
they once gave me a button for being humble but they took it away cause i wore it.

Sir Patrick:
A knight should be quick to recognize the contributions of others, rather than steal the spotlight for himself (even if his achievements deserve such recognition).  A knight should never carry out his duty as a means of acquiring glory, but as the necessary obligation of upholding his knightly vows.  As a knight, he is expected to behave in such a way, and to self-agrandize those behaviors is vain.  An eagle is majestic, beautiful, and graceful, but he does not say to the other birds, "Hey, look at me!"  He just is an eagle, doing what he does not for recognition, but simply because it's what eagles do.

Sir Edward:

--- Quote from: Sir Wolf on 2010-10-21, 21:10:34 ---they once gave me a button for being humble but they took it away cause i wore it.

--- End quote ---

Hey, I'm the most modest person I know. I rule. :)

All kidding aside, I was thinking a little about how Humility plays into the modern day. In some ways, this may be one of the traits that's lacking most in modern society, especially if you consider it from the standpoint I was mentioning in my previous post, that it's not just about avoiding arrogance and conceit, but also not being self-denigrating either.

I think modern culture has absorbed a couple of paradoxical traits. On one hand, large numbers of people have problems with their self image. I saw an interesting article (blog post, actually) called "The disease called Perfection" which describes some of this. Insecurities and an obsession with one's own flaws can lead people to all sorts of self destructive behavior, not to mention mistreatment of people around them.

On the other hand, there's also a level of narcissism, which Sir Brian mentioned in another thread. Today we have a cultural trend towards a lack of personal responsibility, and a sense of entitlement. People blame everyone else for their problems, and want easy fixes.

I wonder why it's so hard for people to develop a balanced and truthful outlook.

I think one of the lessons to be learned is, rather than ignore, redirect, or obsess over your faults, it's better to evaluate them individually and choose a course of action. Those that can be addressed, you work on. Those that you're stuck with, make peace with them. And then do the same for your strengths. Work to improve them.

I think the knightly approach should be not to be saddened by your flaws, but never be truly satisfied either. Always strive for the unreachable, but don't dwell on your failings.

Does that make sense?

Sir William:
Makes perfect sense to me...I have said, in conversations going back some years, that one of the biggest problems I see in the world today is the lack of personal accountability.  Look at us...we live in a highly litigious society where everyone sues everyone else for perceived blame.  Things that should be categorized as part of the 'common sense canon' are no longer part of it.  Everyone remembers that frivolous million dollar lawsuit against McDonald's because someone burned their mouth when they tried to take a sip from a coffee they had JUST GOTTEN.  Or the elected official who sued a mom-and-pop cleaners for ruining a pair of tuxedo pants...he wanted a million dollars too.  He nearly got it, watching this farce was disgusting to say the least.

It is deeprooted, this lack of personal accountability too...I look around me daily and see many examples of societal breakdown because of a lack of personal accountability perpetrated by fear...fear of litigation should one decide to physically discipline (spank) their children, publicly or privately, teachers in schools no longer hold any sway over our children unless we raise them to recognize the status and importance of teachers, parents no longer hold any sway over their children...notice I said 'their' because MY children were raised as I was, I hope mine are not the exception.  Fear of reprisal from your fellow man has given rise to this 'no-snitch' phenomenon that is most prevalent in non-Caucasian areas...so law-abiding citizens have no real protection from retribution should they do their civic duty and speak out against crimes in their neighborhoods.  So much is wrong in the world, and a lot of people turn a blind eye to it, desiring to focus on their individual pursuits at the expense of all others.

This may be an unpopular point of view, but I attribute our current state of downfall on one specific occurrence- the removal of prayer from schools.  By taking God out of the equation, the way was paved for man to make their own way via their own interpretation.  Madelyn Murray O'Hair knew exactly what she was doing when she sued to have public prayer removed from schools.

She also believed that elementary school age children should be allowed to explore their sexuality unsupervised...imagine that.

I do this all the time; my apologies, fellow knights.

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