The Problem with Humility (Contest)
How has a humbling experience shaped your life? Fill in the blank contest.
Prize:
3 Steem Basic Income (sbi). If you're unfamiliar with sbi please read the FAQ here.
Rules:
- If you wish (this is optional), resteem and/ or upvote this post. In the event of a tie if one contestant resteemed/upvoted and the other did not the resteem/upvote will break the tie.
- The winner is chosen by the Steemiverse by NUMBER (not payout) of upvotes on their comment completing the story below. In the event of a tie, I will make the final decision. This contest will close when the payout period for this post closes.
Contest:
The subject of this weeks Drop in the Ocean is humility. This word usually has a positive connotation, to be humble is a good thing right?
But how does one become humble? Most commonly humility is achieved through life lessons. Those life lessons that humble you, or worse, humiliate you.
So what's good about that? Sometimes there's nothing good about that. Sometimes it's a lesson you REALLY needed to learn and sometimes there is a silver lining involved.
This is a complete the story contest. Think of an instance in your life where the Universe said, "Nope! You're getting too big for your britches ....I'm going to have to take you down a notch!"
It can be from any time in your life. It could be an instance where you learned a valuable lesson, there was a rainbow after the storm or it was just plain humbling.
Feel free to take as much creative license to change the actual events as you wish. It can have a comic twist, a moment of insight, or a rush of feeling. The end result just needs to be a short story about humility.
You can use as few or as many words as you like to fill in each blank. Each blank will have a corresponding number, in your comment write the number of the blank and then your answer.
Our main character for this story will be Pat. Like the Saturday Night Live Pat (Therefore, your Pat can be male or female.) If you're unfamiliar with Pat watch this video.
The Story
As a child Pat always felt (1)________.
One day while (2)________ Pat was (3)________ to find (4)________.
This (5)________ shook Pat to the very core and (6)________.
Was there a lesson to be learned? Could any good come of this? Pat sat in quiet meditation and thought (7)________.
-The End-
Good luck to all the participants!
In Peace, Love, and Health
~T
Special thanks go to the Superhero for his excellence in image editing.
As a child Pat always felt happiest when she would sing. She would bring happiness to everyone with her voice. Soon - her singing became like a badge of honor. The singing stopped being about the joy she brought to others - and started to be about the spotlight she took.
One day while performing in front of a massive crowd, Pat was horrified to find that her throat had closed into a sticky, scratchy seal of silence for 8 seconds in the middle of a beautiful song. Though she could finish - she pushed through the strain and damaged her voice.
This humiliation shook Pat to the very core and knocked her immediately down to the bottom rung of the ladder that she had built reaching to the heavens.
Though this had been her absolute worst fear, thinking that she would surely die without the roses and accolades and "bravo! bravo!"s that she had grown accustomed to hearing.. she didn't die. Some people laughed with her. Some people laughed at her. Some people criticized her. and some people shrugged and said "You can try again."
Pat sat in quiet meditation and thought "My voice is still here. But instead of the false perfection that I projected.. now - it's flawed. I can choose to sing, in spite of my flaws and find that joy that I once had.... or I can strive to seek that illusion of perfection again."
Her voice never went back to what it used to be.... the flaw remained. But it also served as a reminder and precaution to keep the music about the beauty that is given and shared with others - and not about what is taken for self. Though the sound was imperfect -it was true. And that's what made it beautiful.
-The End-
Really liked this T :) its like multiple posts within a post! hehehe super fun!!!!
AND the winner was!!!!! @dreemsteem!
I sent her the 3 SBI at the close of the contest. (And I just realized I never did announce the winner so better late than never? Oops!)
Many thanks to @monchhchi23, @penderis, @wolv, @curtross, and @bashadow for their excellent entries!
Thanks for playing everyone!
XXXOOO ~T
It was a fun challenge. Congratulations to @dreemsteem, and all the others, some fun reads.
@iamthegray , @spunkpuppet , @tawasi , @johngreenfield , @bashadow , @calumam , @dezziq , @kchitrah Time is almost up to stand a chance and win 3SBI .... You snooze you loose. ;)
I will try.
So humble :)
I am one of those people who really have no clue or idea what humble really is, I know what humility is, but humble, have never really been sure about. A stupid phrase 'eating humble pie", I mean what is it. I do not think humility is the opposite of it, but since I don't really know what it is I am likely wrong.
@tamala ;) pretty in red. Thank you @bashadow
yeah that red was a cool find, I saw it, and just had to have it. Then after finding it I got reminded there was an easier way to have found it than searching through the page source code for that one little line, (inspect element). No other colors available and you can't change on the fly between red and black back to red in a sentence, but still fun to play with.
Okay so opposite of humble would be egotistical, or sort of. Able to acknowledge that you are better than someone else. I know there is more to it, but nutshell it is.
Humble "your right, what was I thinking?"
Ego "I am right, you were thinking wrong!"
Mmm not so much dispute but guess acknowledging you are wrong is the same, you should read the posts from this weeks #dropintheocean sort by created for the humility posts, it might help. Yes it is about not being egotistical but still knowing your own self-worth, even when you do great things which others go bananas over you see it as no biggy and keep on keeping on and don't expect praise even if it does make you fuzzy you keep your jizz in your pants. :)
@tamala, I did my best with your story... I found it a bit difficult with sticking to the topic.. I love how you made this into a contest. I believe there are always lessons to learn and always silver linings to be found. Showing humility is very important but I feel the opposite of that is also important and sometimes necessary. Here's my entry...
As a child Pat always felt (1)scared and misunderstood.
One day while (2)while walking home from school Pat was (3)eager to find (4)a way out but she also knew that any decision she made would change not only her life but the lives of everyone close to her. Despite knowing the destruction a decision like this would cause, she knew it was necessary in order for her to survive.
The (5)thought of her decision causing those around her pain, shook Pat to the very core and (6)she knew that she would lose those people closest to her. They would never understand why she had to make this decision. They would never see past their own lives to understand the suffering Pat had endured. They were selfish and unforgiving when anyone threatened their comfortable way of living. Pat realized she was just as important as them and decided to do what she had to do in order to escape the hell that she found herself in.
Was there a lesson to be learned? Could any good come of this? Pat sat in quiet meditation and thought (7) Things will be horrible at first. You can't live your life being this meek person who allows people to walk all over you. Figure out your worth and know that your life is just as important as everyone else. Don't give a second thought to those that never give a second thought to you. You've exercised humility your whole life, now its time to kick some ass and do something that will bring you pride and joy.
Before anyone reads this response, please understand I am exaggerating real things that I have perceived by the American public and this acts as a comedy to call out shitty American public behavior. I write this beginning comment because my aim is not to be misunderstood as a bigot.
As a child Pat always felt (1)entitled, like a "pimp daddy pete" a real hot shot big tough guy with squandered morals and a "Don't Tread on Me" tattoo tramp-stamped on his back.
One day while (2)driving down the road in his confederate flag laden v27 1656356 horsepower super-hemi, mother nature melting truck in his home town of Harrison, Arkansas and at the same time eating a Walking Taco Pat was (3)snow-flake offended to find (4)women's suffrage being practiced at the local election. By a black woman nonetheless.
This (5) shocking display of gender and racial equity in his God-beloved town shook Pat to the very core and (6)he turned into the cartoon character Yosemite Sam.
Was there a lesson to be learned? Could any good come of this? Pat sat in quiet meditation and thought (7)“Oooooo! I’ll blast yer head off for this!”
Thanks for reading
-Curt Ross
As a child Pat always felt (1) like he was the king of the world.
One day while (2)proclaiming to be the king of the world to the others, Pat was (3)shut up by @tamala that was only there to find (4)Pat and explain to him that the real king of the world was @wolv.
This (5)relevation shook Pat to the very core and (6)he realized @tamala was right....
Was there a lesson to be learned? Could any good come of this? Pat sat in quiet meditation and thought (7)he discovered that in life there will always an asian or a wolv better than you but that doesn't mean you are any less of a person and that someone being better than you doesn't mean you should stop trying.
-The End-
As a child Pat felt 1. special.
One day while 2. talking about how special she is in her new school 3. Pat was 4. shocked to find that they did not think she was the main peanut in the packet.
This 5. realisation that took far too long and with no help from her doting parents shook Pat to the very core and 6. she decided to push them away maintaining her snobbish attitude, until the new schools Dumb Diana shivved her and everyone rejoiced.
Was there a lesson to be learned? Could any good come of this? Pat sat in quiet meditation and thought 7. as she was laying in the hospital bed, since Dumb Diana did not get anything major and she was still alive, now dreading having to go back to school.
Googling how to make a shiv she also thought of what made the kids from her old school special to her, apart from all the ass kissing, she also realised that Dumb Diana was not so dumb for hating her.
Maybe instead of a shiv she could make things less about herself and be more present for others and their accomplishments, but no ass kissing, she would not want to shiv them down the line.
As a child Pat always felt (1) that aliens were real and that Santa really did slide down chimneys.
One day while (2) playing on the roof of his house, Pat was (3) drawn to the chimney, to find (4) find out if he could slide down it.
This (5)simple act shook Pat to the very core and (6) caused him to screech like a little girl as he got stuck in the chimney.
Was there a lesson to be learned? Could any good come of this? Pat sat in quiet meditation and thought (7) I guess if I can't do it then Santa must be a lie, and aliens must be real, trust no one, they all lie. Mom told me santa was a lie, but no Pat had to believe the mainstream media. The next day pat was sucked out of the chimney by a passing ufo that heard his girlish squeals.
-The End-
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You got my support with my up vote and I am going to have to really think if I want to enter into this contest. So I am going to move on at the moment and ponder this for a while. It should be interesting, the stories that are already here are pretty darn good.