Caution: Humility At Work
As the project manager, I had made the call to delay the fix. So, I sucked it up and sent an e-mail back to everyone, apologizing for my decision and apologizing for the fact that another developer had to waste part of their weekend on the problem.
One person wrote me back in a bit of amazement, saying that they had never heard anybody apologize at anyplace they had ever worked.
The way I see it, an apology is my first course of action once I have been shown that I was wrong. Granted, everyone expects an apology if they themselves were wronged. We'll have arguments with someone about how they hurt us or whatever and at some point we'll gleefully add the comment, "And you haven't even said that you're sorry."
On the other side of that coin, though, it takes a fair amount of pride-swallowing to easily offer a meaningful and sincere apology. It can be difficult to counteract the automatic desire to defend ourselves. The only thing that makes it easier is to practice, I suppose. In any case, I find it amusing that certain marks of maturity are so often missing from our workplaces but I'm glad that God showed up in that simple e-mail exchange.
20 comments:
Good for you Jamie!! :) It is hard to admit when you're wrong...I definitely have problems with that!
Hmmm your post has inspired to write about what we talked about in class....but I don't feel like it right now, so maybe later!
My personal belief is that you can't actually use the word "humble" and still be it.
"I'm cool because I don't care if I'm cool, right kids?" "No." "Well, I'm cool because I don't need to be told I'm cool, right kids?" "Of course not, Then how would you know you're cool?"
How can we know if we're cool? How can we know if we're humble?
thanks for the little post, jamie. i think i needed that... ummm... right about NOW.
Short answer: you can't.
Long answer: humility doesn't exist.
"Humility doesn't exist?"
I'd like to see Mike defend that proposition.
Meh. I might be inclined to agree with him depending on his arguments. I assume that he would get all philosophical about it, though.
As for me, I prefer my philosophy and theology to be practical. In that respect, I disagree entirely. Humility is something we can do, not some vague feeling or attribute.
Besides, I didn't say that I was humble in that post. I said it was "humility at work." It has a double-meaning: "in my workplace" and "in progress." Clever, eh?
Oh no, there's that pride kicking in...
So you don't consider humility a personality trait, but rather you see it as an attribute of a particular action?
Is "humble" an adverb or a adjective?
Sure, humility is a personality trait or even a characteristic of maturity. That's still based on practical decisions and day-to-day actions that we make.
Referencing humility as a verb was a way to make my point, yes?
I humility, You humility, He/She/It humilities, We humility, They humility...
Mmmm...nope, i don't think it works.
(well it doesn't work as a verb --> Jamie...
humbly... i humbly begged forgiveness... that would work as an adverb...
the humble king they named a fraud... there... adjective
Wait, wait, I have it...
I humble myself.
You humble yourself.
He humbles himself.
She humbles herself.
We humble ourselves.
They humble themselves.
I think grammar is playing nasty tricks on you.
When you use "humble" as a verb, all you do is leave obscured the that you performed. The fact that a particular act is hidden means that you must really think of "humble" as an adverb, and not an adjective.
Using humble as a verb makes for an unclear sentence that obscures cause and effect, even if it is grammatically correct.
Correction to the above post:
When you use "humble" as a verb, all you do is leave obscured the act that you performed.
By that logic, saying that "I love something" also obscures the act. I would likewise argue that while love can be a wishy-washy abstract thing, it can (and should) be a definitive set of actions.
In any case, you may be able to argue that love does not exist just as you could argue that humility does not exist. That's still a philosophical ploy that common sense refutes.
Ah, it's a pleasure to have university-bred friends...
Mike,
If you are operating with a presupposition that "humility does not exist" then it's not surprising that you would argue that such a word cannot function as a verb. However, you still need to defend your (rather shakey) presupposition.
The Oxford Dictionary certainly disagrees with you. Depending on how you parse the root, "humble" can be used as an adjective, verb, noun, or adverb.
Stop arguing with me anonymously! It's annoying.
By that logic, saying that "I love something" also obscures the act.
Boy howdy, does it ever. Is love a description of an act, or a description of a state? You're entirely right to say that my questions apply to love just as much as they apply to humility.
(The difference being, I can answer my own question for love. But I don't have an answer for humility. So I'm suspicious)
That's still a philosophical ploy that common sense refutes.
Common sense? Well, I know for sure that doesn't exist. :)
Ah, it's a pleasure to have university-bred friends...
The pleasure is mine. :)
However, you still need to defend your (rather shakey) presupposition.
Mr. Anonymous, haven't you ever played around with an idea? Added a bit more salt? Poked it? Wandered down a trail just for the sake of exploring?
But perhaps saying "humility doesn't exist" is jumping the gun, since we haven't even agreed on what humility is.
Mr. Anonymous...
Do only men leave anonymous comments?
...haven't you ever played around with an idea? Added a bit more salt? Poked it? Wandered down a trail just for the sake of exploring?
Yes, I have done that. In fact, that is exactly what I've been doing, and encouraging you to do, in this little discussion. You said that your "long answer" was that humility did not exist. "Interesting," I said to my (possibly female) self. So, I thought I would ask you to go into some detail about that. Sadly, your long answer has not been forthcoming (does it exist at all?), and instead I get this petulant rhetorical nonsense.
Sigh. University-bred kids. I tell ya. They're enough to drive a girl(?) mad.
I assumed you were male for a specific reason: you write like a male friend of mine, Titus. All apologies if I was wrong.
Feel free to hand wave it all away, I don't much care. Because it seems to me that you don't understand what I'm saying, so your dismissal doesn't mean much to me.
I'll expand on what I said about being able to answer my own question about love: I think love is an adverb. It describes a certain tendency in human life: desire for union with the other.
I don't think that "humility" describes anything. People want to use it as a verb, an adverb, and an adjective, but there are always a far superior way to describe whatever it is they are pointing at.
But again, there's not much point in me talking about humility if none of us have even agreed what the word "humility" attempts to describe.
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