Member-only story
Where Have All the Humble Writers Gone?
When I was growing up, I had a bit of an attitude problem. I wasn’t violent or unruly. I didn’t swear in class or bully fellow students. The comment that teachers were leaving on my report card was less common: I was haughty.
I was also twelve, so I neither knew what haughty meant nor really cared. However, as I grew older I started realizing that my attitude was a barrier to having healthy social interactions. I decided to work on it, try to show more empathy and compassion, assign high moral value to displays of humility and integrity.
This began taking an opposite and insidious toll on my personality — one I wouldn’t notice until many years later. My unhealthy attitude toward humility meant that I was constantly being hard on myself, putting myself down. My failures were mountains, my achievements were molehills. I began to feel like I had nothing interesting to say, nothing worthwhile to contribute.
This became a real issue when searching for a career path. Morally, I felt driven to find a job where I could help others. But my true passion is writing.
Digital media discourages humility
Self-publishing is in its very essence an act of pretension. Even here, in putting out this piece, at some level I’m claiming “I have something worthy to say, and…
