It started when you were a kid – your dad’s horrible shirt, your mother’s insistence on a curfew, your little brother’s idol worship of your best friend. And it just kept on – your child’s temper tantrum in the grocery store, your daughter’s purple hair, your groomsman’s drunken toast at the wedding . . .
Other people embarrass us, and we also embarrass ourselves – we forget someone’s name, arrive too late or too early, find ourselves inappropriately dressed for an event, send a typo out in our latest newsletter . . .
We’ve ALL had moments of embarrassment – understandable, unavoidable and sometimes even appropriate!
There is, however, a time when embarrassment is inappropriate, even in the face of loss or defeat. When you have given something your best shot, your most sincere effort, there is never cause for embarrassment. If you have lost, failed, or been passed over, HOLD YOUR HEAD HIGH. Puff out your chest with pride, you put it on the line – you risked failure.
Not taking the risk or not trying? Now that’s embarrassing.
Until next Tuesday,
Elizabeth