When was the last time you chose to be humble and kind?
Last week before the election took center stage, the Country Music Awards awarded a song called Humble and Kind as the best song of the year.
I think this song has special significance now, and it’s a lesson everyone could learn from.
Humble. Kind. These are two words that tend to be brushed aside. Looked over. But making these words traits you live by, measuring sticks to gauge by can be a powerful way to ensure you aren’t part of the problem but part of the solution.
We’ve all been in the losing side. Whether it be a vote, a relationship, a contest, anything that you devote your emotional investment in. We’ve all lost. We’ve all had to realign our future with a new reality.
We’ve also all won. We’ve gotten the guy- or the girl, we’ve gotten the job offer. We’ve won business. Championships. We’ve won in small ways. Big ways. We’ve celebrated. We’ve felt that joy rush through our bodies.
But it’s amazing how easy it is to forget what being on the flip side feels like. In this election, it seems like everyone has forgotten the human element here. Real people are mourning a loss they truly feel will affect their lives. Real people are celebrating something they believe in.
We’ve all been in both sets of shoes. So act like it. Remember what it feels like. If you won in this election, remember what it means to be humble. Celebrate. Be happy. And remember what you felt like last time when you saw your world with an uncertain lense. Be humble in your success. Be kind to those who don’t agree with you.
If you lost this election, if you’re concerned about the direction this country is headed, remember that the opposite side felt exactly the same as you do in the last elections. They also felt their world was irrevocably being changed and they had no say in it.
We don’t have to agree with each other. We don’t have to like what each other stands for. But we damn well need to respect that this country is built on fighting for those rights to think, believe, talk, protest, and be different.