Failure, or: Humility

I've failed myself in so many ways
To enumerate them would me take days
But I would never judge you
For when all's said and through
Nothing but my humility stays

78 thoughts on “Failure, or: Humility”

1. Beautiful, David. A man with religion and without a heart and the empathy that should attend it, is empty as far as I am concerned, when he should be full of love.

   1. There are so many “religious” people “without a heart”. 😞

      1. Yes. Religion does not mean they follow the rules they should do…heartless.

         1. BTW, regarding abuse of woman – “modest” clothing covers bruises quite well.

            1. It certainly does, doesn’t it. I remember my ‘mother’ that adopted me putting a high necked shirt on me to hide the bruises round my neck with instructions not to undo the top button.

            2. wow.

            3. She was a very misguided woman.

            4. to say the least.

            5. I have no bio family left. I don’t remember my real mother.

            6. how old were you when she died, if I may ask?

            7. Under a year. She killed herself

            8. wow again. sorry 😦

            9. It is what it is. I don’t remember her, just my maternal grandparents. It is very strange talking about it, David. It was something never to be mentioned. It was a shame on me, if that makes sense to you.

            10. yes, it does.

            11. I hope to see her again one day. I’m terribly upset with her. My biological father visited occasionally, but moved on with his life. I didn’t see him after my late teens, and he never met his grandchildren. I never stood a chance.

            12. It’s amazing how much people who are raised in relatively healthy nuclear families take for granted. I certainly did.

            13. https://thepaltrysum.com/2021/04/23/guilding-the-lilitu/

            14. I would have given anything to stay with my grandparents, but they were too old and I think it was too painful for them. They were good people, it wasn’t their fault, and I do hope I don’t make it seem like it was.

            15. No, I don’t think you do.

            16. That is a relief. I loved them dearly.

            17. ..So you know, I had to close comments on Marriage is Murder as got so much abuse from men’s rights activists and silly boys wishing I had died and saying I was a dangerous woman. I figured it was better to just say no comments at all on that post rather than tolerate the abuse and whining.

            18. no way. That’s so awful 😦

            19. Very extreme written abuse saying I am various things from a bad mother, to a incipient serial killer and a dangerous woman who should have been killed. I might collate and post in a wall of shame.

            20. holy sh#t

            21. mmmm hhhmmm…Really awful

2. Humility is such a precious virtue which is lost in our society, hope we can all have in our heart and action.
   Thank you for the beautiful post.

   1. Thank you for the very kind comment.

      Sincerely,
      David

3. Speaking as a fellow human, probably in all possible ways , we might err finding the balance.

   1. Karima – I randomly came across this comment of yours that I had somehow not responded to!

      Just wanna say – ‘balance’ is one of the hardest challenges for me in so many ways.

      Ramadan Karim,
      David

      1. Smiles oh yes it is so hard! Ramadan Mubarak!

4. Without humility we are just kidding ourselves and self deceived,, Look up at the stars..how big is anyone in comparison? This was so right on David! Failures are many, but humility is the real lesson to learn.

   1. True, but even it has limits. Moses was humble but knew how and when to be assertive, for example Korea and golden calf.. Same with Martin Luther King, he had to know how and when to defy authority. Humility is necessary but is not always the supreme virtue.

      1. Yes, you are correct but humility is a strength not a weakness in my thinking so there is no discord in being humble and assertive when needed; they can exist together. For me humility is more about knowing one’s place in the universe, knowing what we can do and what our Creator does do. I enjoyed your comment on my comment. Thank you.

         1. We agree essentially. I was trying to say as I think you do, that humility is not enough, that we need other virtues. The Mussar watchword is no more than my place, no less than my space.

            Figuring out the balance is the hard part. Thanks for responding.

            1. My pleasure Peter and the balance is the hard part… and being human, we get it wrong sometimes.

            2. Sure do. But in which way.

5. Nice one!

   1. Thanks, Shira – this one was of a more serious bent 🙂

      -David

      1. Thank you for posting this: I keep getting accused of being too serious, so now I feel better! 🙂
         -Shira

6. That’s quite a poignant and profound write!

   1. I aim to please 😉
      (thx!)

7. David, you hit on why I found Mussar so difficult. Thanks.Patience vs. Alacrity, anger v. acceptance. Trust in God, but what if things are not well? Humility, but what if there are wrongs like racism, that require strong action, not acceptance or humility. The balance is so elusive. The only Mussar middah that really seemed natural was gratitude. We have our last class today.

   1. how many classes were there?

      1. eight. We covered Alacrity, Anger, Gratitude, Honor, Humility, Patience, simplicity and Trust. The materials were from the Mussar Insitutue.

         1. Cool!

8. Awww. Beautiful and poignant, in just a few lines. ❤️

   1. Thanks 🙂

      I had limericks on the brain, I guess… I wrote 3 of them yesterday (this was the 2nd one)