Nailed It.

You want to know the first thing I think of when I hear the word humility? Humanity. I mean it’s literally right there in the actual text. Three letters to start and three letters to end, with a “nail” right in the center binding them together. Humiliation and humility have different meanings, but both are tied closely together. To be human is to experience humiliation. To experience humiliation can lead to a sense of humility. One seemingly bad experience can lead to a seemingly good experience. No matter what way you slice and dice it, it’s all part of the HUMAN experience.

We all have moments in our lives we can recall that were not our finest. I’m going to tell you a very embarrassing and rather painful experience I went through when I was about 23 years old. I attended an open bar event in Philadelphia, one Saturday night, with several of my friends. It was a night of dancing and laughter with great people…from what I remember. Several hours later I ended up on my bathroom floor while the walls danced around me in circles. I also got to know the inside of the toilet bowl very well and you know exactly what I mean. At some point my sister heard me, and eventually brought me a few slices of toast as I laid nearly unconscious on the floor. If that weren’t embarrassing enough, I drove home from the bar that night. I haven’t even gotten to the worst part, yet.

That very same night, two of my sisters attended a wedding. One of my sisters was a bridesmaid, as it was her best friend’s wedding. The painful part of this story is that the bride had lost her sister several years prior in a drunk driving accident. She was the passenger in a car where the driver was intoxicated. So, what should have been a night filled with only the joy of celebrating marriage was cast in a shadow of sorrow because a beloved family member was missing. And as I woke up the next morning with a headache the size of Alaska, my sister came in to check on me and ask how I got home the night prior. I could not lie. She wasted no time in displaying her rightful anger and disappointment in my actions. What if I would’ve killed myself in an accident? What if I killed another driver on the road? What if, God forbid, I would have killed my sisters on their way home from the wedding that night? All these relevant questions left me speechless and in complete shame. I was absolutely humiliated.

After a bit of time passed, with neither of my 2 sisters speaking to me, they were able to forgive me for the terrible decision and mistake I made that night. I was wrong. I knew I was wrong while I was behind the wheel. I knew I was wrong the next morning as I was confronted. And I ultimately admitted to being wrong and apologized and we were all able to move past it. So, it makes me wonder why is it so hard for people to admit they are wrong? It’s a quite common part of the human experience. The average life expectancy is globally averaged around 80 years old. In 80 years, I’m sure some of us are wrong once or twice. Now if you’re like me, it doesn’t happen often. Maybe it’s genetic. Maybe it’s a gift. I’m kidding. Half Kidding. In all seriousness, we are going to be wrong quite often in 80 years. Oddly enough, you learn a lot when you’re wrong. I think the most important lesson learned is humbling ourselves.

My story about drunk driving is extreme. It’s not so hard to admit wrong-doing when it’s a matter of life or death.  What about the everyday situations we find ourselves in? As I write down my thoughts, I’m also checking the status of my stocks every couple of minutes, hoping they are all spiking and making me a millionaire. Is it wrong to want to make money? Absolutely not. Is it wrong to let it consume you? Yes. Should I be volunteering somewhere to help those less fortunate than me rather than stare at a computer screen worrying about money? Yes. I can admit I’m wrong for the way I choose to spend my time. What about arguments you had with someone. I don’t even care what the argument was about. Chances are, someone in the argument was wrong. Maybe both of you think you are right. Who gets to decide?

I recently was involved with some family drama, in which I’m certain I was right in my argument. I’m 100% certain that the other party in the argument thought that same thing. When feelings and emotions are involved it changes the entire ball game. But I’m a firm believer in facts over feelings. You can feel how you feel, and no one can take that away from you. But are your feelings justified by the facts of the situation? Something to consider. Either way, most people don’t want to be wrong and everybody wants to be right.

So, where to go from here? I think the only answer is humility. In both scenarios. If you are wrong and can admit it, you stand the chance to learn what humility is all about. And though that kind of sounds rather terrible, the opposite is true! There is such a sense of freedom when admitting you are wrong. I feel like God built that into our system because He knew we would be wrong so many times throughout our human experience. So, through humility, he gave us this awesome sense of freedom. The chains of our wrong doings can finally be unshackled off our hearts and minds. The same is true when you are right! If you feel you have won the argument, don’t gloat! Remain humble because remember, you have been wrong too many times in your life to think you have the upper hand. You are no one special. You most likely have less wins in your column and way more losses through your human experience. So, don’t forget that. Learn to stay humble even in winning.

The world is crazy. I don’t need to remind anyone of that because I know everyone has a tv and social media. Global pandemic fears, civil unrest, economic hardships, and an election season all in the same year. It’s a lot for any human to handle. But all I see when I look out into the world is a lot of people thinking they are right and no one admitting they are wrong. You can flip that coin as many times as you want and no matter how it lands, someone isn’t going to like the outcome. But the solution to that is humility. Because it doesn’t matter how the coin lands. There is something to learn on either side. No matter if you’re right or wrong, there is true freedom in both…if you remain humble.

Humility. Humanity. The four letters in the center that make up the difference spell out nail. All of our shame and humiliation and wrong-doings were hung on the cross. Through humility, Jesus was nailed to the cross to save humanity. I don’t think the similarity is a coincidence. I think God is just clever.