Sometimes I’m Confused

Humble persons know what they are and what they aren’t, what they have and what they don’t have, and they never confuse the two.
—     Joan Chittister
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On This Day In:
2021	You Need Me On That Wall
	Counting Bees And Chasing Clouds
2020	Precious Life
2019	Nothing Is Too Difficult For Me
	Patterns Of Caring
2018	And May Never Be
2017	Don’t Forget
2016	I Was A Percentage Man
2015	It Waits Patiently
2014	Unknown
2013	Explaining Love?
2012	Echoes of 1%
2011	Salaam, Egypt!!
	Where Do You Learn?

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Feeling Humble

Every one who is seriously involved in the pursuit of science becomes convinced that a spirit is manifest in the laws of the Universe – a spirit vastly superior to that of man, and one in the face of which we with our modest powers must feel humble.
―     Albert Einstein
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On This Day In:
2020	Mostly Dry, With A Chance Of Late Rain
	And The Same Goes For Blogs / Posts
2019	Not Enough
2018	One Thing We Do Know
2017	Preservation
2016	Going Back
2015	Just For Today
2014	Reaching For Destiny
2013	Still Just Passing Through
2012	Live Or Die
2011	On Secession
2010	A Rocky Weekend

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Too High For #45

Humility leads to strength and not weakness.  It is the highest form of self-respect to admit mistakes and to make amends for them.
—   John J. McCloy
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On This Day In:
2019	Little Things…
2018	Have Thee Paid Yet?
	Day 9: Fingertips
2017	Hopefully, I’m Good Company
2016	Maybe Not Most
2015	Differences That Matter
2014	But Sometimes It Takes A Village
2013	Laughter > Grief
2012	Pioneers
2011	It Is Free

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A Humbling Learning Process

As a scientist, the thing you must always do is to be humble enough to know that when you get additional information, even information that might conflict what was felt earlier on, you then change your viewpoint and you change your recommendations based on the data.  That’s what science is all about.  Science is a learning process.
—    Dr. Anthony Fauci
Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases
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On This Day In:
2019	Another Thought On #45’s Poor Education
2018	As Long As You Survive Each Experience
	WordPress to Facebook Test…
	Day 7: Oh, Yeah!
2017	A Good Habit
2016	The Minds Of Trumpism
2015	Expressing Nonsense
2014	A Real Fight
2013	Unravelling
2012	I Resolve
2011	Practice, Practice, Practice
2009	Phoenix Trip (July ’09)

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Six Reasons Why #DumbDonald Will Always Be A Failure

Six essential qualities that are the key to success:  Sincerity, Personal Integrity, Humility, Courtesy, Wisdom, Charity.
—    Dr. William Menninger
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On This Day In:
2018	The Trouble With Bookstores
	Another No Chew Diet
2017	Biased World View
2016	Control In The Age Of Entanglement
2015	Okay, Maybe Not Ceaseless
2014	Can Do
2013	Are You Helping?
2012	Inside All Truth Is A Vacuum
2011	So, Whom Are We Trying To Fool Then?

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The Limits Of My Knowledge

Rage is a dangerous emotion, not simply because it can be destructive but because it can be so easily satisfied with cheap targets.  Like my friend who picks fights online, I’m a veteran.  I know people who have been injured or killed overseas.  I’ve seen the damage bombs wreak on the bodies of innocent civilians.  And, yes, it fills me with rage.  But if that rage is to mean anything, it means I cannot distract myself with the illusion of adjudicating past wrongs with artfully phrased put-downs.  In a world where we are still at war, the most important question is, What do we do now?  There the moral certainty of my rage must be met with humility about the limits of my knowledge.
—    Phil Klay
From his Opinion / Editorial:  “The Enduring Emptiness Of Our Public Rage“
Appearing in:  Time Magazine;  dtd:  5 November 2018
Online at:  https://time.com/5434373/phil-klay-american-public-rage/
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On This Day In:
2021	I’ll Keep Trying To Anyway
	She Knows
2020	Respond
	Still Trying To Adjust
2019	The Limits Of My Knowledge
2018	Even Tiny Progress
2017	Real Conservatism
2016	The Business Of Life
2015	Alone Again, Naturally
2014	Agreed
2013	Smile From Your Heart!
2012	Like You
2011	Got Days?
2010	K9 Humor – Has Anyone Seen My Setter?  (Must read!!)
	A Longer Blog Than You Want To Read (Probably)
2009	Back and Forth and Round Again…

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Some Basic Virtues

I believe in some basic virtues, you know?  Mercy, humility, curiosity, empathy.
—     Anthony Bourdain
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On This Day In:
2017	Too Soon We Part…
	Rigorous And Difficult
2016	Where And Why
2015	The Beauty Of Thy Voice
2014	Faith In Men
2013	An Average Verge
2012	Dew Drop Secrets
2011	Champion Freedom

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And Stable Genius, Too

True humility makes no pretense of being humble, and scarcely ever utters words of humility.
—    Saint Francis de Sales
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On This Day In:
2017	And So We Continue
2016	Feeling Endangered?
2015	One Day
2014	Too Bad
2013	Unfinished
2012	First Steps Along The Path
2011	A Small Part Of Future Webs

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Grateful Humility

And yet, it’s a happier fact of human behavior that all tribes are separated less by walls than by membranes, and those membranes can break and the tribes combine as easily as two raindrops running down a windshield that need merely touch to merge.  But something must make the touching happen — and not many things can.
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And if it made us small?  If it made us feel that we are of less consequence, less magnitude, than we usually think we are?  Well, good.  Humility was part of the veil of peace that was drawn over the country on Aug. 21.  So was community.  And so, it would be nice to think, was gratitude.
—    Jeffrey Kluger
From his article:  “Mother Nature, the uniter, briefly eclipses the nation’s divisions“
Describing the 21 August 2017, totality eclipse for Time Magazine dtd:  4 September 2017
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On This Day In:
2016	Obstacles
	Election + 2 Weeks
2015	Done What You Could
2014	Impossible To Other Men
2013	Just In Case
2012	Isn’t This Just Pleasant?
2011	No Void In Sight

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Humility Before The Unknowable

The Bible was written by numerous people over hundreds of years with wide and often varying concerns, some of which were and are morally indefensible.  Within its pages, however, lie powerful passages that help illuminate our lives and our place before the mystery of human existence.  I, too, struggle, like the writers of the Bible, to understand.  I, too, often get it wrong.  But it is the honesty and rigor of the search, the doubts and reverses, the mistakes and regrets, the ability to stand up again and keep trying that ultimately express faith.  This humility before the unknowable, the acceptance that there is much we will never understand, makes possible self-criticism, self-awareness, self-possession and self-reflection.  They make possible compassion and acts of kindness.  They allow us to see ourselves in the stranger; to reach out in solidarity to those who travel with us on this dusty, brief and often lonely road of life.  This honesty and humility make possible a diverse and tolerant human community.  They sustain life and, in the midst of it all, impart hope.
—     Chris Hedges
From his book:  “American Fascists“
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