Humility - It's Good for the Soul

It’s Friday afternoon and I have been mulling over this post all day. Okay, that’s an exaggeration. But I have been mulling for the last five hours, since I woke up. I still don’t have any clue what to write, or what to write about. I'll just start and see where it goes...

Thinking it over and watching the news, reading about it, Greece will do what Greece is going to do tomorrow. The EU will then have to decide for itself what to do about whatever Greece does. Either way a whole lot of people are going to see a whole lot of their personal wealth disappear in a cloud of dust.

Will Portugal, Spain and Italy, all equally iffy risks, follow Greece’s lead? Either way, one way or the other, they’re going to have a day of reckoning, too. It’s inevitable.

Barron’s has a good article on this mess:

http://online.barrons.com/articles/how-a-greek-default-could-hammer-bonds-1435894311 

This all means that the bond market will suffer. Along with people who have invested in them through their retirement savings accounts. The pain will be widespread and, if the others go – the rest of the PIGS – as expected, it’ll happen again. When is the only question awaiting an answer.

That’s a primary reason I don’t invest in my company’s 401k. I don’t trust governments and I don't trust the investment markets. It's a Ponzi scheme and a shell game. Which means that I’m strictly a sideline observer in all of this kerfuffle.

Yesterday, I was looking at economic statistics on Iceland because of a discussion I was in. I had gotten into something of a debate about Iceland’s economy since they walked away from the EU and re-established their own currency.

Along the way I had a pretty hard comeuppance moment. It was because I, looking at what I was seeing from the outside, was shocked by the state of their economy.

Iceland has a median annual salary of 3.5 million after taxes? That's the average annual income? It costs an average of 260 Krona for a loaf of bread? Horrifying!

Then, after I was virtually slapped upside the head, I stopped and thought about it. Those are average prices. That is what the average person earns and pays. So the fish swimming in that pool, sharing that water, are all seeing the same thing. So it’s okay. It really isn’t that bad, particularly since the majority of Icelanders are working. They have relatively low unemployment and their quality of life is pretty good.

Following through, rubbing salt into the wound of my ignorance and arrogance, I ran some numbers and discovered that, despite its outward appearance, it really isn’t that bad.

If you take the Icelandic median annual after tax income of 3,543,935.16 Kr and divide that to the monthly after-tax income you arrive at 295,327.93 Kr. If you convert that to Euros, it results in a monthly after tax income of €2,007.87. That’s not too bad.

Maybe that’s the answer for Greece. Swallow the bitter pill. Walk away from dependency on the rest of Europe. Hit rock bottom and start to climb up again. Maybe study Iceland and what they’ve done to get things back on track.

Greece does have a problem that Iceland doesn't. It's an aging society but, with some serious effort, they still might be able to turn things around and, who knows, maybe they could become a magnet for younger people. Maybe after a few years, with the right restructuring, young people who are finding it hard to make ends meet in France or Spain or Italy might be attracted to a thriving economy and a chance to earn a decent living.

Who knows but it remains to be seen. But wouldn't that be a kick in the head if Greece, as it did several thousand years ago, became the model for future civilization, future economies?

In any case, no matter what happens with Greece and the EU tomorrow and into the future, I certainly learned a salutary lesson: Just because you think you know something, don’t assume you do. Check your facts, be careful to make sure they’re accurate and then talk about it. Otherwise the maxim ‘better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak and remove all doubt’ is likely to come into play. As it did for me, yesterday.

Oh well. Humility is good. It builds character. So I’ve had some character building.

Oh – and look at that. This just about wrote itself.

Have a lovely (non-humbling) day!

Best~

Philippa

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Simple Gifts

'Simple Gifts' from Aaron Copeland's 'Appalachian Spring' is one of my all-time favorite pieces of music.

Following yesterday's post, I kept thinking about it, about what generated it, what I said, what was said to me and blah, blah, blahdee blah-blah. The result of my musings is the conclusion that people are very lucky when others step up and say, 'hey, wait a minute!'

When someone has the courage to do that, it's a gift, a very great and powerful one because it takes courage, a great deal of courage to call someone out. Particularly when addressing someone you don't know, whom you've only met online.

It's a risk, potentially a big one because you don't know how the recipient will react - whether they'll accept or lash back. Even when your intentions are the best, perception is everything in the vacuum of the internet.

And it is a vacuum. Even though the words are sent out into the universe at large, I don't know where they'll land, who will see them, who will care or who they'll affect. Neither does anyone else have that knowledge. So having someone reach back and say, 'that was wrong' or 'that was great' or 'insightful' or anything else is a gift.

Another gift is the humanity and the humility to be able to say, 'you were right, I was wrong, thank you'. I say this in the purest of general terms - not because I was driven to apologize for having a momentary lapse, but because my situation made me think in a broader, all-inclusive perspective.

For someone to have the courage and the decency to look at oneself frankly, to admit when they're wrong is, as far as I know, a uniquely human characteristic. Not all humans have the ability or the willingness to do that - to accept that they're fallible and able to err. Some people I know don't, others do, and that is where the divide falls. That is where the gift is given.

Not long ago I was in a situation where a group in which I was participating was asked to do something and I was the one given the task of implementing it, which I did. A week later, after having done this, we got together again and the leader of our group said 'hey! what's up with this?' in a not particularly pleasant tone. Naturally, I felt as if I was to blame but no one among the larger group stood up for me and said, 'hey! wait a minute!' I was left hanging out to dry and I resented it.

In an ideal situation, one or another of the group who heard the first direction would have stepped forward right then and said, 'hey! wait a minute!' on their own. That would have encouraged another to join in and right the wrong being perpetrated. No one did, though. I bore the brunt of it and felt hurt and angry and resentful.

Afterward, after considering options and possible results, I sent a message back to the two people who I would have expected would be the ones to step forward and say the 'hey, wait a minute'. In my message, I expressed myself clearly and forcefully, I left nothing I wanted to say unsaid (except the swear words which wouldn't have added anything but spleen and rudeness).

From one I got an apology, which was nice. From the other, a step farther.

My message, originally directed only to the two, was sent to the individual who had stirred my pot. I genuinely do not know what the motivation for forwarding my words to this person were - whether they were a genuine admission of having screwed up, or if there was another motive (to cause me trouble).

But no matter because the end result was a gift.

I received, addressed to the entire group who was present, an apology. That took courage. A great deal of courage and of decency, and it's a lesson well learned.

Never be above admitting when you're wrong. Never be above saying 'I'm sorry' because you do not know, you cannot know how what you did or said affects the other person. It might be a little, it might be a lot.

Saying 'I'm sorry' doesn't undo the wrong or remove the sting or cure the embarrassment. It doesn't change the fundamental, but it is a gift and a great one to bestow because it takes both humanity and humility.

I thank, with a full and open heart, the person who pointed out to me my error and I again sincerely apologize for causing offense. I will try to do better. I will certainly do no worse.

Best~
Philippa

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