Sunday, November 29, 2015

November 29: Writing Prompt #333-Humble Pie

Tell us about a time you found out after the fact that you’d been mistaken and you had to eat a serving of humble pie.
I’ve been thinking about this one a lot, and I believe the most humble pie I’ve ever had to eat at one time was given to me when I offended an entire culture without meaning to.  I wrote about this situation not too long ago in response to a previous prompt.  It was tough enough to write about then, so I won’t recount it again here.
The fact is that there’s plenty of times I’ve had to eat a sliver, a slice or even a whole pie of humbleness in my life.  I make mistakes regularly.  I say too much and sometimes to the wrong person or at the wrong time or using the wrong words.  I sometimes fall into gossiping with the crowd too much or judging others before myself.  I am selfish; I am argumentative; I can be too emotional.  I don’t always look at the situation through the eyes of the other person, especially when it’s a person or situation close to my heart.  I sometimes think that I know best….I am prideful. J In a nutshell, humbleness doesn’t come as naturally to me as I wish it did.  The positive thing about all of this is: I am also able to look inward at myself, listen to others, and hear them when they tell me I am wrong.  I may not always accept it in the heat of a moment, but I can come to terms with it fairly quickly and easily and eat my pie with an apology and a humble heart. 
What’s been on my mind and heart lately, though, is concern that there are those out there I have hurt or offended unknowingly, and I may never have a chance to make amends.  I’m not one to want to “go to bed angry,” so it is tough for me to accept that there are some relationships, friendships, etc…that serve a certain purpose in our lives for a short time, and then they are gone, sometimes without any explanation.  That’s one of the negatives of social media, in my opinion. You can often “find” these people, but they may or may not “accept” you as friends OR they may accept you for a time, then “un-friend” you.  This may not have anything to do with me personally, but that “not knowing” and “things left unsaid” is hard.  I’ve had friends that were a part of my life, things happened, and then we moved apart, but we had closure. At some point, there was a “no hard feelings” moment between us. I’m okay with that. I don’t need to re-hash it. It’s the “I didn’t know there was a problem” between us that’s challenging.  But, I think it’s something we all go through and have to accept.  At least, I hope that’s the case.

People will come and go, and they are not always meant to be a permanent part of our lives.  I would never purposely hurt or offend anyone, so if I have done that to you, I offer my sincerest, heartfelt apologies.  If anything I have written has caused you to feel uncomfortable, that’s not my intent. The blog is mainly for me and my own “therapy,” and I realize that I will never be able to please everyone all the time, so I guess I’ll have to accept that.  Just as there are those I am less comfortable around in my life and those with whom I have painful associations, others may feel that way around me, and that’s just life.  I have become better and better at letting go over the years, but this is an area that’s still a work in progress for me.  I believe I may have a lot more humble pie to eat before I am done. 

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