when i was in college, someone came to leslye and my room and started looking at tesse (the betta fish). and he was fascinated with him. "it's so beautiful..." and i agreed with him... "it's amazing how little space they need to be happy." i replied, "yeah... i was just talking with someone about that the other day... how they grow in the little puddles in the rice paddies in asia... it's pretty incredible that such a beautiful, vibrant fish originates in mud puddles."
then he said something very striking. "yeah... it's kind of like people."
"[Humility] is the attitude of one who is like the soil. humility comes from the latin _humus_, fertile ground. the fertile ground is there, unnoticed, taken for granted, always there to be trodden upon. it is silent, inconspicuous, dark and yet it is always ready to receive any seed, ready to give it substance and life. *the more lowly, the more fruitful, because it becomes really fertile when it accepts all the refuse of the earth.* it is so low that nothing can soil it, abuse it, humiliate it; it has accepted the last place and cannot go any lower. in that position nothing can shatter the soul's serenity, its peace and joy." anthony bloom
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