Unappreciated humility

A man went to a river to have a bath. As he was groping his way into the stream, he saw a crab who was trying to catch a mosquito with his claw. The man laughed. "Oh dear crab," said he, "you may indeed have a sharp claw, but you overestimate yourself thinking you could catch a mosquito with it." Suddenly, the man felt a gnawing pain in his toe. To his surprise, the crab has already buried his claw in it. "Oh dear man," said the crab, "I was just trying to shoo the mosquito away."

Quite a few times we find ourselves underestimating people. It may not be as bad as it seems. Sometimes, we rationalize it as a form of constructive criticism. It was not about judging them, so we thought, but more like telling them where else they could improve on.

At the back of our mind, however, probably lies the laugh of that man to the crab. We don't admit it but as human beings, it is but normal for us to compare ourselves, and even to feel superior, to other people. It comes in different forms, but the essence is just the same: we (silently) laugh at those whom we find to be trying hard to do what we can easily do.

There's this feeling of entitlement, I guess. It is alright, even innocent, to belittle someone because we know what we are talking about. Sometimes we hear some higher-ups say, "what you're having now is not even halfway to what we had to go through just to reach here." Or old people say, "you're still on your way while I am already returning."

Nothing would be wrong about it. If those who got there first are deprived of their privilege to boast of their achievements, and necessarily to condescend upon those who are still on their way, the young generation will not have the pressure to continue on. Precisely because there are those people whom we look up to that we are propelled to follow and even to surpass them.

There is something nasty about it though. We often think that things that successful people have achieved are the standards of success for those who are still trying to make it. They are considered less because "this" or "that" is the standard of more.

But if it were all about securing the continuation of social progress, then why the laugh at those who couldn't do it?  Laugh. Giggle. We can only do that when we never feel threatened or insecure. But when we feel the pain in seeing others actually doing what we thought they couldn't do, that's when the belittling reveals itself. We would then be put to shame because what we thought that we can do was not after all the standard of other people's success.

In this Sunday's Gospel, Jesus revealed to his disciples and all those that follow him the beauty of Christian humility:

How blessed are you who are poor: the kingdom of God is yours. Blessed are you who are hungry now: you shall have your fill. Blessed are you who are weeping now: you shall laugh. 

The promise of joy and success in the midst of suffering is but a declaration of human being's innate beauty and perfection. We can't expect people to see the best in us. Life is cruel, and Jesus knows that. But the grace of God - that we can expect to raise us up. But it will only work when we are humble enough to receive his grace. It needs some courage too, and a little sprinkle of stupidity like the crab shooing the mosquito away.