Chapter 1 in 'The Lakota Way' deals with humility. After claiming it as the most important of all virtues, the author says, "If humility was a virtue for everyone to practice, it was absolutely necessary for a leader. Humility can provide clarity where arrogance makes a cloud." Then he shares this story...
Several years ago I watched my uncle, then president of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe, diffuse a volatile moment with simple humility. A woman walked into his office and proceeded to ridicule and berate him, insulting him in every way she could think of because she or her family had been denied a service by one of the tribal service agencies. He didn't interrupt her; he waited until she finished her tirade. Then, instead of taking umbrage because he, and the office he held, had been grievously insulted, he, with his head down, quietly and respectfully replied, "Yes, that is why I have this job. So you can insult me when something goes wrong. Thank you for telling me your problem." The woman could only walk away. She had expected her words to be met with anger because an arrogant person would have reacted in that manner. When there was no anger, no arrogant retort, she didn't know how to handle the humility.
Boy do I wish I had that level of humility.
I wish we still selected leaders based on their humility too, instead of on their boasting about how great they are and what all they claim they can do!
The author closes this chapter with:
A humble person rarely stumbles, the old ones say, because such a person walks with face toward the Earth and can see the path ahead. On the other hand, the arrogant man who walks with his head high to bask in the glory of the moment will stumble often because he is more concerned with the moment than what lays ahead.
Trying to learn to walk with my head down...
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