Humility is...

I have a hard time with the Christian "virtue," HUMILITY...

Why do I find it so unattractive?!

Am I fearful of being unappreciated? Or is it because the private me is out to please myself? (Humility smacks of interacting and... giving in...)

The message of Christianity is LIBERTY: Equality - before God - of all... women and men, slave and free... So why does the concept of HUMILITY make me feel like a slave?!

I applaud such socially radical verses in the Bible, written at a time in history when slavery was common (when, in fact, all prisoners of war - regardless of status or education - became "slaves") ... At such a time, the apostle Paul uttered socially radical words, reminding slave owners that they too are slaves, slaves of God; and telling slaves that Christian owners are their brothers...

But the idea of HUMILITY - rather than PRIDE (in who I am and in what I have done) seems counter-culture in the world I live in. How often do we try to teach our children to be humble? (Though we encourage PRIDE in themselves and their work.)

As I try to understand this puzzling "virtue," HUMILITY, I come across a quote (in Benedict's Way):

"What is humility? It is that habitual quality whereby we live in the truth of things: the truth that we are creatures and not the Creator; the truth that our life is a composite of good and evil, light and darkness; the truth that in our littleness, we have been given extravagant dignity..."
(Quoted from Humility: 31 Reflections on Christian Virtue by Robert F. Morneau, italics mine)

(There it is again... the paradox of littleness and dignity...)

Have I made HUMILITY too complicated?! Perhaps it is simply this: Remembering who we are, not compared to others, but before God.