Keeping Score

Humility

by Gene | November 12, 2008

“Talent is God-given; be humble. Fame is man-given; be thankful. Conceit is self-given; be careful.” – John Wooden

In my opinion, the hardest thing for a college person to figure out is not the knowing right from wrong, or what they want to do with their life, or how to make a budget, or a hard equation in pyshics.

I feel that the hardest thing is humility.

According to the dictionary, humility is defined as the quality or state of being humble.  Pretty much, not being satisfied with what you have achieved.

If a student gets a 95 on a test and people say “Hey great job on that test!” the student feels satisfied and tends to stop improving because they feel its good enough (I’m guilty of this), instead of saying “How can I do better next time to get that other 5%?”

In college sports, one of the best examples of someone who has humility is University of North Carolina’s  Tyler Hansbrough. He is the reigning Associated Press Player of the Year and ACC Player of the Year. He returned to UNC instead of going to the NBA, partially because he enjoys being a college student, but also because he felt he wasn’t that ready to play in the NBA. He has the two awards and went to the Final Four last year, so he has proved that he is a talented player, but he still wants to get better.  

Another example is Stephen Curry of Davidson. Curry led his team to the Elite Eight and almost to the Final Four, before losing by 2 to eventual National Champion Kansas. According to an espn.com article about him, students state that he is still approachable and available to fans.

“Stephen deserves all of the attention,” senior Max Paulhus Gosselin said. “But he’s humble about it. He handles it great. It could have changed him, but Steph isn’t that type of person.”

If  you stop being humble, you will stop progressing in whatever it is you do.

Gene