Humility and a Long Quote

Im not really in Nashik, I am in transit (destination unknown) and would like to share some thoughts.

Ive come to realize a lot about the concept of 'humility'.
Humility is much more of a process of realization than it is a finite character or emotion. I think it has a lot to do with understanding yourself in the context of the world - understanding that the things in society that lend you your pride and superiority can really isolate you from the learning experiences of life. When you think about it, there is so much bull that gets in the way of really connecting with ' the other'. We constrict ourselves with strait jackets of pride by building barriers with looks, money, "class", sexuality, gender, nationality, religon, 'education'... its all so ridiculous. Having a post- secondary education doesn't mean that you know any more about life than a Tanzanian street kid. And money - having it or lacking it- its incredible how efficiently money can create barriers between people.
My dad always taught me that "you have something to learn from everyone". Everyone, president and prostitute alike, has a story to tell, a lesson to share, dangles some whisper of wisdom. And living - really living- is a process of drenching yourself in the experiences that really connect you to others.
On the theme of 'the prisons we choose to live inside', I offer the quote that has been attached to Eileen Knowles' emails for the past decade: "For to be free is not merely to cast off one's chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others" -Nelson Mandela

I would also like to share a longer quote that comes from a personal role model, James Orbinski (a past president of MSF). It is from a Visiting Lectureship on Human Rights at the University of Alberta, recently published by CBC in an anthology of the 'Ideas' series. I ripped out this particular lecture to carry with me.
(Im not too sure of the copyright laws, but I do quite want to be interrogated, so ill take the risk)


"Embedded in my talk tonight has been the responsibility- the imperative- to stand against injustice. Amartya Sen has argued that poverty and the injustice that often accompanies it is not simply about economics but, more importantly, about a fundamental lack of freedoms. It's also about the choices of us who are free- or, more simply put, it's also about how we use our liberty. We here are free to use our liberty in whatever way we choose.... Through you action or inaction, through your voice or through your silence, you will shape the world around you.
And I ask you to use your liberty to use your liberty and the skills you have gained and will gain in future training to act and to insist that the basic dignity of the excluded the marginalized, the unprotected be acknowledged in their full humanity. These are the millions of people without access to arvs,and every man, woman and child who may fall prey to disease, infirmity, or political oppression or negligence.
Use your liberty to be who you are: free peole who can knowingly choose to make life more bearable for the other. For "the other" is not some anonymous object to be ignored with indifference and not, as Jean Paul Sartre put it, "your hell", but 'the other' is your brother and your sister who shares in our common humanity. Do not be paralyzed by fear and do not be anaesthetized by false hope, bu illusionary dreams. But do live what is possible through courage, choice and an irreducible respect for human dignity.
Fear and false hopw are overcome by what we do, which can be in defiance of the apparent futility of reality. It takes courage to face fear, to overcome false hope, to be and to do. And if you look, you will find courage in the most unlikely of places. You will always find it - your own courage or theirs- in the eyes of "the other". In doing this, we can oly but acknowledge, grow and enrich our own humanity." - James Orbinski

Theres a lot of ideas in there, I enjoy his perspective.

(its funny- some of you may recall one of my phases when i wore a lot of black and read a lot of sartre)

---

---