Paying It Forward: Humble Pie Please
Paying It Forward: Humble Pie Please
Feeling “I’ve been wronged,” presupposes you are important. Anthropologist Margaret Mead, quote “Helping someone through difficulty is where civilization starts.” It's not about you.
Paying It Forward: Humble Pie Please
Feeling “I’ve been wronged,” presupposes you are important. Or did another treat you the way they treat everyone, blissfully in “their space” -- earbuds in, head down, fingers of both hands dancing on their phone.
Anthropologist Margaret Mead is credited with the popular quotation, “Helping someone through difficulty is where civilization starts.” The rest of the story includes, “Wounded animals in the wild would be hunted and eaten before their broken bones could heal. Thus, a healed femur is a sign that a wounded person must have received help from others.” Often debated as fiction, the quotation was cited by Fortune writer Remy Blumenfeld as Covid reached 1M US cases April 2, 2020.
We all belong to multiple communities. Consider family, work, religion, leisure, as well as where we volunteer. In giving to others, we receive membership, influence, integration and fulfillment of our needs as well as shared emotional connections. Our community benefits as we make a difference, receiving better health for us and others from pooled contributions.
During fact checking by many, a transcript with Mead was first published in Talks with Social Scientists, edited by Charles F. Madden and printed by Southern Illinois University Press, in 1968. Asked roughly the same question, “When does a culture become a civilization,” Mead answered: “Looking at the past, we have called societies civilizations when they have had great cities, elaborate division of labor, some form of keeping records. These are the things that have made civilization.”
Blumenfeld also included another verified quote by Mead, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; For, indeed, that's all who ever have.” I submit, take your energy and engage with your community to “Make it so,“ as Starship Enterprise Captain Picard commands in Star Trek.
Consider the last of Mary Oliver’s poem, “The Summer Day,” about the brevity and value of ordinary life:
Doesn’t everything die at last, and too soon?
Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?
Will you consider all the communities available to you as well as your dreams and needs? Then become the person of action your community needs to build a worthy civilization.
Greeting my days recalling “pride comes before a fall,” share a slice of humble pie with me?
How Are the Children Doing? Jack Browne
Published April 6, 2024, Wichita Falls Times Record News
