When Albert Einstein was making the rounds of the speaker’s circuit, he usually found himself eagerly longing to get back to his laboratory work. One night as they were driving to yet another dinner, Einstein mentioned to his chauffeur (a man who somewhat resembled Einstein in looks and manner) that he was tired of speech-making.
“I have an idea, boss,” his chauffeur said. “I’ve heard you give this speech so many times, I’ll bet I could give it for you.”
Einstein laughed loudly and said, “Why not? Let’s do it!”
When they arrived at the dinner, Einstein donned the chauffeur’s cap and jacket and sat in the back of the room. The chauffeur gave a beautiful rendition of Einstein’s speech and even answered a few questions expertly.
Then a supremely pompous professor asked an extremely esoteric question about antimatter formation, digressing here and there to let everyone in the audience know that he was nobody’s fool.
Without missing a beat, the chauffeur fixed the professor with a steely stare and said, “Sir, the answer to that question is so simple that I will let my chauffeur, who is sitting in the back, answer it for me.”
King Solomon wrote: “Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own conceit.”
One of the most endearing qualities we can ever display is humility. One of the most annoying is pomposity. Humility is so important that we cannot enter God’s presence without it. Jesus said: “Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.”
We enjoy being with friends and family who display humility. The blow hards, the proud, we avoid. Solomon wrote,”Better it is to be of an humble spirit with the lowly, than to divide the spoil with the proud.”
