This is something that has always bothered me, but maybe I’m just missing something.
I usually see this phenomenon at award shows like the Oscars, Emmys, Grammys and such. The winner gets on stage, and before going into the ‘Thank Yous’, talks about how humbling it all is - to be nominated with such a great group of peers and to win the award.
It’s just never made any sense to me. The biggest offender I’ve seen is Garth Brooks (who is also, imho, the biggest phony in show-business). I’ve seen clips of him at shows staring out at his thousands of cheering fans and saying how humbling it is. Am I missing something, or would it actually be humbling to look at and expect to see thousands of fans and only see 50. Or to *not *be nominated to win an award?
The obvious answer (to me) is that it is just a way to fake humility, which is what the majority of us fans want from our superstars - a ‘regular joe’ quality instead of a smug jerk. But why does this particular tactic work?
hum·ble adj.hum·bler, hum·blest **1. **Marked by meekness or modesty in behavior, attitude, or spirit; not arrogant or prideful.
**2. **Showing deferential or submissive respect: a humble apology.
**3. **Low in rank, quality, or station; unpretentious or lowly: a humble cottage.
I’ve found that with certain attributes, if someone is saying it about another person it tends to be true, but if someone is saying about themselves it’s usually B.S.
“That Bob Smith is so humble.” -probably true
Bob Smith: “I am so humble.” -yeah, whatever.
Bill Jones: “I am a perfectionist.” -:rolleyes:
“That Bill Jones sure is a perfectionist.” -probably true
Interesting that the example they used is in the form of an apology - which narrows the scope of the defiinition. I can’t think of another common use of humility that doesn’t involve some sense of wrong-doing or shame. Unless, of course, it is my OP.
I can be humbled when receiving an award when I have the utmost respect for the people giving the award. If people I hold in high esteem choose to honor me, I can feel not worthy of such an honor. In other words, not worthy to placed on such a level and these people.
Imagine someone who has incredible respect for Jimmy Stewart (or some other actor) and gets award from the same group that honored him- that actor may not feel worthy of that level respect, emotionally, even when intellectually accepting that they do deserve the honor.
Or if you’re humbled to even be mentioned in the same breath as your fellow nominees, which is the common awards show formulation. I agree that “I am humbled and honored” is usually meaningless bullcrap. But it’s not impossible. You can be proud to win an award but humbled to realize that a lot of people, or some people you really respect, are paying attention to what you do.
Yup. It’s an acknowledgement that you may not be worthy of the honour. Perhaps “humbled” isn’t the best term, but it is the one that gets used for this.
Sure you can be. Some people may be total egotists but others, even famous ones, often feel they are phonies even when successful. You may see a finished product, but a writer sees a blank screen, and during filming of a movie it is hard to tell if it is going to be a classic or a total bomb - most participants have been in both.
You also might be competing with people you respected coming up, or who you think are fresher than you.
Listen to Buffalo Springfield’s “Mr. Soul” where Neil Young starts by wondering how the thought he had in his head became the event of the season.
I’ve felt incredibly humbled before when people praised me. It can be an overwhelming feeling that you are nothing important yet are being hoisted up to stand in the limelight.
Then let me ask, do you feel this is the same type of humility you have felt at some point in your life when you got ‘knocked down a peg’? Or are they different feelings altogether? I mean, I can understand the feeling you get when you feel like you don’t really deserve the praise being foist upon you - I’ve just never thought of that feeling as humility because to me it’s so much different than the feeling I get when I realize I’m not as good at something than I thought.
It’s not the same, but there are similarities. I’m sitting here trying to kinda dredge up that feeling and it’s hard to do. It’s more of an overwhelmed feeling. “This person is giving me this enormous gift that I’m not just unworthy of, but that I can’t begin to measure for its generosity of spirit.”
The humble feeling is created by the enormous contrast, just as being humbled by, say, a math problem is created by the contrast between what you thought you could do and what you actually can.
I have no idea if this is making a lick of sense.
ETA: Maybe it’s just an “I am small. This is big” feeling.
Oh yeah, in fact the praise-humility can be more devastating than the criticism-humility.
Because you can feel even more aware of and embarrassed by the shortcomings of your work when somebody’s generously praising it than when somebody’s picking holes in it.
