...been thinking about humility...

I've spent a lot of time lately thinking about humility. Humility doesn't get a lot of press these days. It is a hidden attribute and definitely not something you see displayed very often.

I had an interesting interchange recently with one of the most arrogant people I've ever come across - or at least he used language to seem that way. After a couple of rounds of interaction in which he did all in his power to humiliate me and never answered a simple question I asked, I'd had enough. I wrote a couple of paragraphs in which I took a few sarcastic jabs and then proceeded to point out how juvenile he seemed in his use of words. I really wanted to help this guys see how he was coming across.

...and then it dawned on me. Was I really going to get through? Did my sarcastic jabs do anything to help me reach out to him? Did my references to "Jr. High" to describe his attitude have much chance of helping him get better? No, if I really wanted to reach out to him, I needed to respond in humility. It meant I had to do more than use self-deprecating humor. I had to express real humility to him.

In the end, it meant that I had to delete all the trash I had written - thank heaven I hadn't pressed "Send" yet! - and quietly express humility. I simply said, "You didn't answer my question yet :-)" and left it at that. It felt better than anything I had written to him before, and he hasn't responded to me yet.

Do I have a "right" to not be humiliated? No. (Surprise! Oprah probably never pointed that out to you!) I claim to follow Jesus Christ with my life. Look at a couple of things from the Bible about what we can expect if we actually follow Jesus:

Jesus said:
Remember the words I spoke to you: 'No servant is greater than his master.' If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also. (John 15:20)

Paul wrote:
Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:

Who, being in very nature God,
did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,
but made himself nothing,
taking the very nature of a servant,
being made in human likeness.

And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
and became obedient to death—
even death on a cross!

Jesus did have the right to be exalted but he chose to humble himself. If I'm going to follow Him, I'll have to follow in His footsteps. (Not exactly the most profound thing I've ever written, I'll admit! But a profound concept nonetheless!)

How about you? How do you battle against humiliation and humility? I'd love to hear about your journey as well!

Unfaithful Blogger

I just looked at my archives and realized that I have not been particularly faithful to blogging for the last few months. It can get tricky sometimes keeping track of all the options for communication. Some of the options are so similar, I sometimes blur the lines a bit.

Let's see....there's Twitter, there's Facebook, there's my blog, there's e-mail updates, there's Skype...the list seems endless. Each serves its purpose, but at times I think there might be just too many options. Each comes with its own set of expectations, and something has to give. Hmm...did I mention face-to-face communication, telephones, letters...etc...? I think that is probably what suffers. As we develop the habits of virtual communication, we need to make sure we retain the connections that I like to call "analog" (as opposed to digital).

Do you ever struggle to keep up with your communication? What do you do to keep the tensions in check?

Encounter w/ a hacker...

I had a new, wierd experience yesterday. I was sitting at my computer chatting on Skype with a co-worker in Kenya when a friend in Japan popped up in a chat window to as a question. This is not new. I often have chat windows open with people from various countries chatting. The next one was the wierd one...

I had Facebook open as well, and a "friend" (my cousin) popped up in a chat window and asked if I could help her. "Sure." She said that she was stuck in W. Africa. Huh?! I have traveled around the globe a bit, but this cousin doesn't tend to show up in W. Africa on a regular basis. I figured she was playing a word, or maybe including me in her experience of some role-play game, and would explain soon. ...so I played along.

Next she says that she's been robbed and wants me to help her. Still chatting away with Japan and Kenya, I say, "Sure, what can I do for you." "Can you send me $700 to help get me out of here? STILL playing along, I said, "What do you need that for, booze and cigarettes?" She doesn't touch either, so I thought she'd see the humor and come to the table with some explanation.

"I already told you I was robbed and need the money to get home." And now, I started to pay more attention to the situation. I picked up the phone and called my cousin. Seeing my number on caller ID, she says, "Yeah, I know. I've been hacked." I told her I was chatting with the hacker and would keep him busy for a while, so he couldn't hurt anybody else.

I chatted with him (while still mainly focusing on my discussion with my co-worker in Africa) for 20 or 30 minutes, keeping him busy explaining to me how to use Western Union...etc...and allaying my "fears" of sending money that I am not sure will get to my cousin. After a while, HE started to get suspicious, so I told him I knew for most of our chat that he was not legit. Then he started to brag about his abilities as a hacker.

When I asked him if he ever felt guilty, he started using foul language and turned on me. "I am a good harker. Your account is next. If you are harked two day be suprised!" At this point, I changed my password to something like, "Mickey Mouse Loves Minne4 Mouse and lives at 123 Elm St., New York N3w 40rk!!" and told him to hack away!

I was really tired at the end of the day...partly because of adreneline and partly because I worry if he really knows where Mickey Mouse lives! Enquiring minds want to know!

This morning, I went to Facebook....to see if I am still there....and the chat window popped up:

Harker: "Hi Greg, are you there?"
Greg: "I am here. Are you there?"
Harker: "OK"
Harker: "What are you saying about this account"

.......SILENCE......Offline.

Young Adults and Word-of-Mouth

On another blog, I have been musing about word of mouth, young adults and how to promo events. This year, I made a decision to NOT do a print brochure for a young adult event that I have been chairing for a couple of years. It wasn't particularly popular with the Baby Boomers who help to facilitate the event, but I was (and still am) convinced that the cost-to-benefit ratio for a full color glossy brochure just didn't justify the brochure.

Then Michael sent me this post from an unrelated-yet-related blog, with this quote, which was quite insightful:

MySpace is over, it's just not cool anymore; Facebook is still cool, but that might not last much longer; and the biggest thing in their life is word of mouth. That's how they hear about music, bands, everything."

If the conclusions drawn by these high-powered, high-paid "gurus" is correct, we have some homework to do, in order to understand how to get the "word" out about events for young adults. What do you think is the way to infect the word-of-mouth machine with info about new and upcoming events and the like?