A HUMBLE PERSON?

It’s not often that I listen to country western music. On occasion, as I’m channel surfing on Sirius, I come across a song that begs listening to. The other morning on my way to Kingman, Willie Nelson was singing about trying to be humble.

I turned up the volume finding it was humorous along with being an enlightening tune. The name of the song is, “It’s Hard to Be Humble.” The starting lyrics go like this,

“Oh Lord, it’s hard to be humble

When you’re perfect in every way

I can’t wait to look in the mirror

‘Cause I get better looking each day.”

Being humble is Biblical, and seems subjective to interpretation. The Webster’s Dictionary explanation for humble reads as follows. 1. Not proud or haughty. 2. Not arrogant or assertive. 3. Reflecting, expressing, or offered in a spirit of deference or submission.

The old saying, “Flaunt it if you have it!” is definitely not being humble.

An online definition I found for this term is: 1. Tell someone not to hide their beauty. 2. Display your wealth.  3. Over emphasize abilities. Bragging of course is another word for flaunt.

Willie Nelson’s song got me to wondering if being humble was ever a problem for me. That’s a hard question to answer on my own, so friends and family would be a better judge of such.

Asking Joleen this question, she believes I could’ve been a bit unhumble at times in my compositions. She thinks perhaps my assertiveness and opinions on certain subjects, sometimes come through like a bull in a curio cabinet. Joleen did say that I’m getting better with age instead of worse.

Where that number one trait on the list of flaunting is concerned, I suppose beauty is intended for females only, because I’ve never seen a beautiful guy. Handsome perhaps, but not beautiful. When a woman is beautiful and a man handsome, there’s really no need to flaunt it. We can see this without folks having to dress scantily, or bare it all to prove a point.

When I think of flaunting wealth, I flash back to seeing a Turbo Porsche 911 GT3 here in town with personalized license plate: CHMPCHG. It took me a while to figure out the meaning, Chump Change. I believe this particular automobile cost more than 300K, so that was definitely not chump change to me.

You could look at that as not being humble, but then again, the plate I saw on an expensive sportscar saying REPOED wasn’t any humbler. I did chuckle at both in the same way I did Willie’s song.

A few years ago, I belonged to the London Bridge Lion’s Club. Within this club, I met a guy from the L.A. area who was a retired movie set worker. This guy helped build various buildings and props needed in the motion picture industry. I asked him how many movie stars he met and he said, “Many.”

The fellow told me a story of a now, well-known comic actor, who at that time was just starting out. The actor was down to earth at the beginning, mingling with the construction crew, even calling a few of them friends. As time went on, and he became famous, the comedian’s head began to swell and he distanced himself from the lowly workers.

One day, out of the blue, he walked over to show some of the crew his contract. The amount on it was more than what these blue collar workers made in their lifetimes. He evidently only did this to rub things in, thinking it was funny, yet didn’t impress anyone in the process.

I’ve never forgotten that actor’s name, and over time I’ve watched him go through two divorces, with his career appearing to finally be over because of anger and a bad attitude. The guy made a ton of cash in the movie industry, along with a bunch of enemies as well. Without doubt, trying to be humble after becoming successful wasn’t in the big picture. Several lyrics in Willie Nelson’s song fit this person perfectly,

“Some folks say that I’m egotistical

I don’t even know what that means

I guess it has something to do with

The way I fill out my skintight blue jeans.”

I suppose a few readers are trying to figure out who this person is. Out of respect to him, I’ll not mention the name. He definitely needs prayer, because sooner or later, he’ll find that money can never replace the friends ditched along the way in making it.

In looking for a person that fits all the character traits of being humble, Mother Teresa stands tall. She gave her whole life to helping others, doing without along the way.  She was neither haughty nor arrogant. Mother Teresa set the bar sky-high for others to follow.

Drifting back to Willie Nelson’s song, I’ll end this piece with these final lyrics that I changed just a tad. I believe they apply to me, and to most of us for that matter.

“Oh Lord, I try to be humble

I’m doing the best that I can.”