Thinking Out Loud, Volume CDXI

  Driving south on busy Warren Dr., approaching the intersection of even busier Cypress St., it occurred to me that the reason for the back up in traffic may be due to some type of incident in addition to the normal busy-ness of that intersection. Impatient drivers were blaring their horns, while others were cutting through the parking lot of the big shopping center to their left. After a while, I had inched ahead enough to see the cause of the problem:  An attractive young "thirty-something" was behind the wheel of an old clunker that had stalled on her at the traffic light. A couple of young gentlemen were standing behind her vehicle, waiting for the light to change, so they could push her car through the intersection until they could find a place to get her to the side of the street. The look on her face left no doubt as to how she was feeling at that moment. I'll come back to this story in a moment.    Ministers who teach from the Bible often tell us, with good reason, that our prayer should be that our pride be stripped away so that we can learn humility. Have you ever, on your own, away from the emotion of the moment when the minister is speaking, prayed that prayer?  If so, you may understand what I'm about to tell you. If you haven't, I can tell you that while I wholeheartedly agree that humility is an attribute that each of us must possess if we are to become the person we need to be, I must also warn you that the process of learning humility is not a pleasant experience.  Now back to my story:   Who in this picture was learning humility at that moment?  Was it the pair of guys helping a damsel in distress? No. It was the young lady in the car, and I can assure you she was not enjoying the moment. Her face showed signs of fear, frustration, and more than anything else, embarrassment. A better word may be humiliation. I don't know who she is, but judging from the car she was driving, she most likely couldn't afford a tow truck, a repair bill, or time lost from being late for work. In other words, she could testify that her experience of learning humility was not fun.    I have a good friend who is a part of our running group, and he is a great runner, but when he really pushes himself, he has a tendency to throw up. This morning as I was running, my mind was on this topic, and I passed him on the side of the street, throwing up. When I finished my run, he said to me, "I'm sorry you had to witness that scene back there."  I replied, "You were just learning humility, and that process does not produce a pretty sight."  I recall one Sunday at church many years ago when I sat at the piano to sing a solo, and after I had played the introduction, my mind went completely blank, and I couldn't even remember the first word to the song. I was learning humility, and it was a hard lesson.    I'm proud of the lady and gentleman my daughter and son have become, but I feel certain they would be the first to tell you that although they had happy childhoods, the process of learning to be the adults they now are involved some painful experiences. Learning humility works the same way. Humility is a trait to be desired, and once you achieve it, you'll find it's worth all of the training required to get there, even though it's a lesson that occasionally has to be relearned. I just wanted to remind you that if you're enjoying the ride, you're probably not learning humility, because learning humility can be humiliating.    Preston