Friday, September 02, 2005
Desiderata four
By Rene Lizada
Papa's Table
SOMETIMES, we get so interested in our own career. Sometimes, we get obsessed by it that we think that our careers are us, that our jobs define us. And it becomes even more deadly if we are successful in what we do.
And so we get the feeling, the perception, that we are invincible and indispensable. So we act arrogant and we act proud, we think that no one can touch us or nothing can touch us in our hallowed place.
We develop messianic feelings and claim that without us, others will fail, the business will collapse, the country will fall into ruin. Humility lessons first come in whispers, then sighs, the soft talk. But because we are too proud we cannot or do not hear. Finally, it has to be shouted, rammed down our throats.
When we become puffed up because of our careers and our achievements, we tread on dangerous ground. If there is one thing I have learned in life, it is the arrogant that will fall, the proud that will be brought to their knees. Without exception, they will eat dust one day. I should know. I was cut down and I was forced to face the consequences of my arrogance.
It was a painful lesson and yet it was a necessary one. If I have to look back at it now, I would say that it was a defining moment in my life. I learned, and I learned the painful way. I am still proud now but I am aware of my pride. In that certain episode of my life, I was taught the value of humility. That was three years ago and up to now the lesson is still being taught.
According to Confucius, humility is the foundation of all virtues. Jesus put the "poor in spirit" on the top of the list in the Beatitudes. It was as if He wanted to say that being humble is not only wished for but needed as well. It is very difficult to be humble. For to be humble means to be stripped of your dignity, to be shamed, embarrassed. To be laughed at, misunderstood. Reviled and shunned. It means to lose.
Do you wish to live like that? No. We would not want to live like that. We want lives wherein we are admired, talked about with awe and admiration. We want people to look up to us, we want others to want what we have. We want to be famous, we want our names printed in the lifestyle section, we want our pictures to be seen in magazines. We want our egos stroked till we purr with delight. We want to sit at Table Number One. We want to be seen and respected. We want others to say nice things about us. We want others to keep us in a pedestal. We want their eyes and their ears and their mouths singing praise to us. We want to be winners. We want to be proud while showing false humility.
And yet we will fall somehow, someday, somewhere. We will all be brought down to our knees and we will grovel in the dust. Someone once said that we turn to God when our foundations are being shaken, only to find out that it is God who is shaking our foundations. God allows us to be humbled. Sometimes He may even lead us there.
Sometimes we need to be broken to pieces, so that we may be a better whole. Shakespeare once said that sometimes we have to be cruel to be kind. There are moments when we need to be wasted and brought down so that we may value the real and true things in life.
The word humus, which pertains to the richness of soil, is related to the word humility. But before the soil can become rich, it has to undergo many things. It will suffer dryness, heat, aridity, trampled upon, broken, tilled, watered till it finally develops its richness. We like the richness, the product but we do not wish to undergo the events that will make it rich.
We do not want the heartache, the rejection and the humiliation. We do not want to be the object of ridicule and gossip. We do not want others to reject us, to laugh at us, to hate us. We do not wish the sorrow and the grief, the desolation and the hardship.
We do not want to live lonely, desperate lives. And yet if we really look deeply, these are the very people whom Jesus spent most of His time with. These were the rejects, the lepers, the tax collectors, the blind, the possessed, the diseased in mind and soul and body. These were the people who cried out, "Have Mercy On Me, Be Merciful for me, a sinner." These were the dredges of society, the outcasts, the hunchbacks and the hopeless. And they ran towards Jesus for help.
Asking for mercy, praying for deliverance. They who have been humbled run to their only source of salvation. Humility is the way to our liberation. Let us be grateful when we are humbled because it is a sign that God watches over us, it is a sign that God cares.
If you have a comfortable life enjoying all that is worldly things, be careful. Be careful that you do not get sucked into the whirlwind. One of the biggest dangers in being rich is your isolation to reality. Not all are rich. Just because you feast does not mean the others are dining too. We cannot say "let them eat cake." The dangers of being rich is the rich get a warped sense of reality.
What we have today can disappear tomorrow. "In the changing fortunes of time" is a clear warning to all those who think their lives are made and nothing can topple them from their thrones. The arrogant will fall, the proud will stumble. If only to teach them a lesson. But sadly, those who need the lessons most are the most deaf and the most blind. Those who need help the most are the very one who say they do not need anyone.
For Bisaya stories from Davao. Click here. (September 2, 2005 issue)
Write letter to the editor.Click here.
Join the Sun.Star message board.Click here. |
