The lessons of humility by Kenneth L. Marcus (Washington Examiner)

For many people, humility is a message of the season. On Christmas, some like to recall from Philippians 2:8 that Jesus “humbled himself,” becoming “obedient to the point of death.”

For some Jews like myself, Hanukkah also teaches humility. The Maccabees who drove Assyrians from the Jerusalem Temple enjoyed a great victory. But what we best remember is the humble oil that lit the Temple’s menorah for eight days.

In our day, humility is rare and precious. In this season and in the coming year, I hope to learn from those who show humility and resist hubris.

In my work as a civil rights lawyer, I sometimes encounter people who ask me to protect their own freedoms, especially their freedom of speech, while denying similar freedom to others.

It is hubris to think that we can suppress the speech of others while we remain free. This holds whether the speech we wish to suppress is progressive, conservative, Zionist, pro-Palestinian, pro-Bible, or LGBTQ. Humility is to support freedom even for those whom we do not understand or whom we think we understand all too well.

Years ago, I recommended legislation that would protect all faiths from discrimination in schools and colleges. What I found is that everyone to whom I spoke wanted this freedom for themselves and their children. But many feared how others would use it. Liberals feared that Evangelicals would pray in the schools. Conservatives feared that Muslims would do the same. It is hubris to think that we can suppress the faith of others while we ourselves remain free. Humility is to understand that freedom for one requires freedom for all.

Hubris is to assume, whether on the college campus or elsewhere in our culture, that the “credibly accused” must be presumed guilty, whether they receive due process or not. It is hubris to assume we know why victims do not step forward when survivors are so often mistreated by those to whom they turn for help. Humility is to protect both honest accusers and the unjustly accused.

Hubris is to assume that we harbor no prejudices other than what we acknowledge in ourselves. It is also hubris to assume we understand the weaknesses of others better than they understand themselves. Humility is to understand that we must all be kinder with one another.

Hubris is to think we understand the shoes in which others walk. Or that we understand the disadvantages that they have overcome. Or that we can understand them based on the color of their skin. Or the privileges we think they enjoy. Humility is to see uniqueness in every soul.

In education, hubris is to think that one size fits all. Each student has a different set of needs, potentialities, and abilities. Each family has its own background, history, and heritage. Each child has her own flame to light. Our educators must respect them all.

Hubris it is for educators to believe that we can succeed with centralized educational planning when governments have failed in centralized economic planning. Humility is to grasp that success is the work of many minds.

Conservatives should be humbled by advances that have come from liberals, such as child labor laws, women’s suffrage, and anti-discrimination laws. Liberals should be humbled by the limits of government’s ability to correct social problems and the tendency of government solutions to make some problems worse.

Among educators, hubris is to think we can make decisions for families that parents are too unenlightened to understand. Humility is to grasp that parents must tend not only to their children’s health and secular education but also to their spiritual well-being.

Hubris is to assume that we can recognize talent when it is wrapped differently than us: in different skin, accent, ability, or gender. Hubris is also to assume that others are blinded by their own race, sex, or ethnicity. It is hubris to assume that cultural elites can be trusted to use ethnic stereotypes that we know to be invidious when used by others. Humility is to appreciate the things that we cannot see and the things that others can.

Hubris is to believe that we can be trusted to treat others differently based on their race, even if others cannot. It is hubris to believe that we can wield racial preferences virtuously, even if others cannot be trusted to do so.

Years ago, as a young civil rights enforcer, I thought I could detect racial discrimination with statistical tools and computer programs. It was humbling to learn that older investigators could locate it better through intuition and experience. It is hubris to assume that statistics can discern discrimination from quantitative patterns. It is humility to see that numbers hide a myriad of stories.

For liberals, it is hubris to assume that anti-Asian discrimination exists only on the streets. For conservatives, it is hubris to assume that anti-Asian discrimination exists only in affirmative action programs. Humility is to grasp that challenges exist everywhere, including in our own hearts.

For the Left, it is hubris to assume that antisemitism exists only in the alt-right and in riots such as those that scarred Charlottesville and the U.S. Capitol. For the Right, it is hubris to assume that antisemitism exists only on the Left, on campuses, and among the Squad on Capitol Hill. Humility is to grasp that our own backyards need to be tended first.

As a young lawyer, I supported the growth of diversity programs. It is humbling, as these programs and I have aged, to see how they too sometimes harbor hidden forms of hate. A new study shows that Diversity, Equity & Inclusion programs often reflect the sort of bias, specifically antisemitism, that they are intended to eliminate.

It is hubris to deny that our best efforts to improve ourselves often go astray. Humility is to find ways in which we can live more gently with one another.

Kenneth L. Marcus is the founder and chairman of The Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law and author of The Definition of Anti-Semitism. He served as the 11th assistant U.S. secretary of education for civil rights.