Humility and Choices

"I had no idea it was as terrible as that! We've got to do something!"

These words were spoken by Harry Truman upon learning about the brutal murder of Isaac Woodard, an African American WWII veteran who had been killed upon returning home to the United States. Truman went on to say: "My very stomach turned over when I learned that Negro soldiers were being dumped out of army trucks in Mississippi and beaten. Whatever my inclinations as a native of Missouri might have been, as President I know this is bad." He went on to expand the Civil Rights component of the Justice Department and pass anti-lynching legislation.

I love this anecdote so much because Truman did not let fears of alienating his Southern constituents override his desire to do what he know was right. He also admitted to his previously imperfect views.

Humility is one of the best attributes one can possess. Humility is an absence of the ego, it is a relinquishment of one's pride, and in a great many cases it fosters the most beautiful endeavors for justice and the most powerful emissions of love the world has ever known. When deliberating a personal decision, I believe the right answer is always known from the onset; in other words, it is always felt, first, viscerally, before the mind has time to process it or rationalize it or in many cases, ignore it. 

To grasp firmly on to that elucidation of what is right before our ego tries to distort and skew it, before our ego tries to vindicate our previous course of action which we now know to be flawed, is one of the most noble goals.