Summary Of David Brooks The Humility Shift

Above, author David Brooks explains “The Humility Shift,” one of his six concepts in his article, A Moral Bucketlist. This idea of the Humility Shift happens when an event changes someone’s mindset, in that they realize that it’s not all about them. This is demonstrated throughout works of fiction such as Araby and Purple Hibiscus, but the Humility Shift is not strictly fiction, in fact it has been displayed in my own life. First, in James Joyce’s Araby, the protagonist experiences a Humility Shift all throughout his experience at the bazaar. We can tell that he experiences this shift at the bazaar because the author explicitly writes, “I looked humbly at the great jars”(Joyce 4). This quote perfectly exemplifies someone undergoing

At this point in the story, Kambili figures out that not everyone has the luxuries that she has had her entire life. It’s apparent when she adjusts to the lifestyle of her “Aunty” and cousins because her mindset changes. Adichie writes, “There were more earthworms in the bathtub and I left them all alone, watching the water carry them and send them down the drain” (Adichie 270). In this one can tell Kambili has changed as a person, that she has lost her naïve outlook for a more mature understanding. Just like in Araby, Kambili’s world has been turned upside down by this new understanding of ‘it’s not all about

This means one can also connect it to non-fiction…our own lives. I experienced the Humility Shift last year firsthand, when one day I decided to volunteer at the “Agape” program through Westminster. Going into it I thought, ‘maybe it’ll be a fun experience, why not try it?’ Little did I know it would change me, forever. As an eighth grader, I hadn’t seen much of the world, and I didn’t expect to on a Tuesday afternoon. Walking through the doors of the church, I didn’t know what to expect. I certainly didn’t expect to walk out the doors with a brand new perspective. The kids in the Agape program remain some of the sweetest kids I’ve ever met. I realized they weren’t nearly as privileged as me, but they deserve it just as much as I do, if not more. The whole experience not only helped me become aware of problems such as poverty, that is rampant in Atlanta, but it made me see that my “problems” appear trivial compared to