Learning to Teach While Teaching Series Part IV: Humility

Once again it’s time for us to move into our Learning to Teach While Teaching Series. This week's topic: “Humility”

As most of you know I was raised in a small rural town in Florida that isn’t much to speak about. Not much has changed in the way people think or do things since about the mid – 1950’s so there's always some sort of racial tension or overtone to most anything that happens.

My grandmother (“Big Nana”), the matriarch of our family was the granddaughter of a slave who taught me those “common sense life lessons” she had learned throughout her years in the south. My grandmother’s wisdom and insight are still a huge part of my beliefs system and how I try to raise my own children today.

She only had a couple of rules that I can remember and both of them where specific to how I behaved. She wasn’t much for grades in school since she only had a second grade education, but she always wanted to see my conduct grade. Looking back on it, I believe that if I had failed every subject and received an “A” in conduct she would have been fine with that because conduct was about your character and who you were becoming as a human being… I understand that now.

The only other thing that Big Nana ever repeated to me over and over when I was being an obnoxious kid was this simple quote: “Humble is the way son…humble is the way.”

Humble is defined as: adj. not proud or arrogant; offered in a spirit of submission.

What a concept… no suffering from “the disease of me.” Being submissive and thankful for who I am and doing my best to lift those around me.

We live in a society that is driven by recognition, celebrity and power. Three "social moguls" that what will undoubtedly make a tremendous impact on the lives of our young people. Coaches, in conjunction with parents, have the dubious responsibility of making sure our young people understand humility's importance. Sport again, would seem to be a logical choice in helping develop this character trait. It’s innate for us to copy what we see…right? We emulate the very behaviors that are commonplace in our environment - doesn’t it make sense?

The reoccurring theme here, good folk, is to model the behavior for our young people to see. Arrogance is easy, selfishness is easy – it’s always about what we want as individuals. Learning to sacrifice for something bigger than yourself is a difficult task. By nature we're all selfish – even as babies we cried to get our way; to be fed, changed, held, or for whatever our little hearts desired.

Here's the sixty-four million dollar question ladies and gentlemen: "At what point do we as coaches, mentors and leaders selflessly and positively lift our young people up?" That, my friends, is hard…selflessness is hard… discipline is hard…humility is hard… LEADERSHIP...is HARD

Have you ever known of anything worth having to be easy?