Humbling

"This place humbles you."

That’s what I heard from Jerry, who has been at the Homeless Center for three weeks, and today I heard the same thing from Vickie who has been here for one week.

Jerry and I were talking about the new job he just landed, picking up a career line that he dropped a decade ago. He spoke revealingly about the poor choices he made which landed him on the street.

Vickie and I were talking about her stint in jail and her plans for drug rehab. She spoke wistfully of the life she has lived, "using and exploiting men." She said, "I used to be high on drugs and high in the world, but now, being on the street and being here, it’s humbling."

"But I needed humbling." That’s the second thing which both Jerry and Vickie said.

"It’s eye-opening to realize that getting a fresh bar of soap is the highlight of your day. Wow, the things I used to take for granted back in the day."

I doubt everyone would agree that being humbled is a good thing. For some folks it can feel like humiliation, a deliberate slam on our self-respect. I’ll never defend humiliation, especially public humiliation, as a positive human behavior; but being humbled is occasionally just what we need.

As Vickie and Jerry said, "Being humbled reminds me I’m no better than anyone else here."

Many of us look for ways of letting the world know that we are better than others, but humility reminds us that we are not. We all need things, want things, crave things and hope for things. What we need, want, crave and hope for will vary from person to person, but the needing, wanting, craving and hoping are fundamental features of human beings.

Some days, I protect myself by thinking that I am not like the homeless. I think about my superior education, my skills and my achievements. But over and over again people like Vickie and Jerry remind me that I am simply a human being – just like everyone else. And that, I realize, is a good thing to remember.