Having the Humility to Recognize Your Weaknesses
We can’t all be great at everything. And perhaps we shouldn’t be. We humans are social creatures that have survived from the start as tribes and communities. Those tribes and communities have survived and thrived based on a delegation of responsibilities that were either formal or natural. All the members of a tribe or community worked together by each doing their respective jobs. Natural aptitudes were recognized and all got busy for the well-being of the community at large.
Somewhere along the line, we lost this idea of community, and we invented ways to profit off of each other’s weaknesses. “Oh–you don’t know how to do that? Well, I do–but it’ll cost ya!”
Is this a Commie blog belaboring the sins of capitalism? Not quite. We believe there is room for everyone to make a comfortable living in their chosen field. But we also believe there is more room for helping each other free of charge.
As we humans built buildings, sectioned off which property was ours, and installed locks on our doors, we became more isolated from one another. Perhaps with that came the notion that we should be able to do everything ourselves. If there was an area that we just didn’t have the knowledge to address, we might have just ignored it, making the problem worse over time.
Take we Coffee Talkers for instance. One of us has a real weakness when it comes to personal finances. His basic strategy of ignoring the problem and hoping it would go away has elicited predictable results. However, the other Coffee Talker is a whiz at personal finance and is open to sharing this knowledge readily with his fellow Coffee Talker. Sounds like an easy fix, right? Well, not so fast. Our challenged Coffee Talker has had to develop the humility to admit the problem and ask for help. And that’s not easy. That takes real humility. It’s been a journey.
On the other hand, perhaps our Personal Finance Coffee Talking friend has a challenge when it comes to accessing his emotions, and communicating with an emotional intelligence. But, guess what? Our personal finance-challenged Coffee Talker has become a deep well of emotional intelligence and is always ready to dive into these kinds of conversations. They make great members of a well-functioning tribe! And neither one is weak, or incomplete, or less-than. They each simply have their areas of expertise, and are willing to help the other in the areas that challenge them most. Free of charge!
We may not be on the verge of some utopia where we all help one another with our problems and live happily ever after–but does it really hurt to try?
We humans are not meant to be isolated know-it-alls. We are meant to have our interests and areas of expertise, and to give those talents to our communities for the greater good of all. So, help someone in your community with something that you are good at today–free of charge. Before you know it, you will be getting help in an area that challenges you.
Until next time
Scott and Lennart