I Am Embarrassed To Say So

I am perfectly capable of embarrassing myself without any outside help. I can fall on my face without being pushed. I’m not bragging, I’m braying. Embarrassment is not a measurement of humility. An embarrassing moment can be an opportunity for humility. It is equally opportunity for the emergence of pride. When pride kicks in, the awkward moment becomes a foolish moment, a strange moment becomes a deranged moment, a fumble becomes a fiasco, mental clumsiness turns into mental collapse, and a boo-boo turns into pooh-pooh. There is something about an embarrassment that puts us on the defense. That something is self-centeredness and pride. Afraid of losing face, pride steps forward and makes sure we do. Afraid of injuring our ego, pride takes control and fractures our self-respect. Pride is our enemy, not our friend. When you stumble, don’t be arrogant. Be humble.

Humility will take the sting out of an embarrassing moment. Lowliness allows the observer of your mishap to have a moment of delight but inhibits the need for him to rub your nose in it. When we are humble, we can laugh at our most shameful slipups. Humility is the characteristic of not taking self too seriously. When self is not the center of our world, getting our self in a pickle is not the end of our world. Humility works wonder on a blunder. It is always the best reaction to humiliation. But, it takes discipline. It takes self-control. Pride is the reaction of the undisciplined. That ought to tell us something about the foolishness of it. Let humility be your choice and you will not only survive those occasions when one of your two left feet is in your mouth, but you will take pleasure in the taste and walk better because of it. I don’t know what that means, but because I’m humble it’s okay.