Sumaina Ikoghode: Have a piece of humble pie (30 Days, 30 Voices)

by Sumaina Ikoghode

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”You may as well, just hear it now and take to heart, because, eventually after crosses and losses, men grow more humble and wiser”

Yes, its true that St.Bernard said, “it is no great thing to be humble when you are brought low; but to be humble when you are praised is a great and rare attainment”. However, you will be wrong to think that you have no need for humility, if you’ve not been raised to a height of greatness.

Everybody is great, everybody has this sort of superiority in one area or another over one or two other persons. It’s just the way it goes. No matter how low you think your status is, you’re standing over some others. It is your duty to always be “poor in spirit”; for the first test of a truly great man, who may have been given any special gift is his humility.

You may as well, just hear it now and take to heart, because, eventually after crosses and losses, men grow more humble and wiser. I’m sorry if my tone sounds rather harsh, but we should think about it, there’s really not much to be so proud of. Riches, power, position, prestige, beauty,  life. All these are gifts we should be thankful for, not proud of. This world will get on without us if we but think of it.

No one should place him/herself higher or lower than they ought to be. Simply recognize what you have, be thankful and make the best use of it. No matter what it is, no  matter how small or how big. I repeat, humility is not so much for the great only as it is for all of us.

In the words of Spurgeon, “humility is to have the right estimate of oneself, Not to think less of himself than he ought to, the higher a man is in grace, the lower will he be in his own esteem.”

Yes, you  have the brains, the beauty, the swag, the position, the social status, etc. Simply put, you’re pretty awesome in your own way. Hence the need to recognize the next person’s awesomeness and let all shine.

Humility is always in the right and is way more powerful than pride. Sir Thomas More summarizes and hits  this nail on its head when he said, “to be humble to superiors is duty; to equals, is courtesy; to inferiors, is nobleness; and to all, safety; it being a virtue that for all it’s lowliness, commandeth those it stoops to.”

Humility is a powerful weapon that can change the world we live in, for the best.

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 Sumaina Ikoghode is a writer.

30 Days, 30 Voices series is an opportunity for young Nigerians from across the world to share their stories and experiences – creating a meeting point where our common humanity is explored.

Op-ed pieces and contributions are the opinions of the writers only and do not represent the opinions of Y!/YNaija

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