I love all the values here at St. George's, but I'm particularly attracted to humility. And I think when you have humility, you're inevitably going to always wonder how you can support others. When you go forward in life, you will be involved in a community, or more likely multiple communities: perhaps your family's community, perhaps a community with your area of interest, or maybe your work community.
It's interesting how humility gets a bad reputation because it has a reputation of being weak. People may think you are always deferring to everyone else and people could walk over you if you're humble. So I like the couplet “humble confidence” because each of those words holds the other accountable. Humbleness by itself might mean to be a little weak and opportunities might pass by. If it's coupled with confidence, it can never be the weak version. It can only be the good version. Similarly, confidence by itself can also be a negative.
Personally, I've struggled with confidence my whole life. When I went to university, I didn't speak in a class for the first two years because everyone seemed more intelligent than me in my mind. They weren't, but I felt they were. And so I didn't have confidence. And then I go to a place for work and everyone looks like they've got it all together. And I didn't feel I did. So I lacked confidence and that's been true through my career.
When I was young, I was interested in playing soccer professionally. But I was injured for a while, and I didn't know what I was going to do. Then, a friend of mine said they were volunteering at a local elementary school and I went. And that got me interested in education. I volunteered and just got involved in everything I could. And when I was there I decided that, okay, this is what I'm going to do. So I applied to teacher's college and did my postgraduate. And so I share that story because when you think you know what it is you're going to do, you should aim for it, even if you fail. I went with all my heart to be a soccer player, but then sometimes, maybe often, you'll fail. My hope is just that you always know that you are going to do your work as well as you can. And you make sure you step forward to support your communities.
Comments