It was a speech that brought everyone in the Coates Auditorium to their feet. Quinn Macintyre ’25 shared a thoughtful, challenging look into one of Landon’s core values of humility through a personal narrative. Here is a lightly edited version of his remarks.
As you all know, here at Landon we have 11 core values. And my entire time here truthfully, I’ve always wondered, why 11? I mean, 10 is a perfect, even number. Having 11 has always kind of aesthetically bothered me, especially whenever I look at the list of our values and see “humility” among strong words like “courage” and “respect.” A word that, as far as I understood up until recently, really only meant being able to take a joke. I mean, why include such a seemingly unimportant quality among such crucial signs of character? Well, I’ve spent a lot of time trying to figure out what humility really means and how it could be worth ruining our perfect amount of 10 core values.
It all fell into place for me when I was thinking about one of the most influential people in my life, my dad. My dad is the most dedicated and hardworking person I know, mainly because he works three jobs at once. He’s an emergency physician, where he works tireless shifts in the emergency room, he works a desk job for F.E.M.A., where he manages and coordinates emergency weather services, and maybe most impressively, he’s a first-responder on Virginia Task Force 1, where he gets deployed internationally to help save lives from natural disasters.
Why he does so much has always been puzzling to me. I mean, many people devote their entire lives to just being a doctor, let alone having two more jobs. He certainly doesn’t do it because of the money, surely working solely as a doctor would pay far more than splitting time with the other two. I doubt he does this because he thinks it’s fun. It must be exhausting, sitting at a desk all day managing resources and begging people on the phone to evacuate their homes, to then working a late shift in the E.R., dealing with patients begging for Percocet after imaginary injuries or (true story) threatening to summon aliens into the hospital, all to then be deployed and go dig around in the rubble, driven by a subtle hope that he might find someone buried alive. No, surely that’s not fun. Then, why? Why give up so much time that he can never really relax?
Well, eventually, I realized that he works so hard because he’s driven by a very simple understanding of the world. What he knows is that he is no more human than anyone else on this planet, so he gives his everything to everyone he can. This is humility.
Let me paint a picture for you, which starts with a very hard truth. Nobody in this room is special. You may think that you’re different from others here, maybe because you’re really smart or because you’re a freak athlete, and it’s true that these attributes are what make us unique in each other’s eyes. However, in the grand eye of the universe, we are no different from each other. The blood that flows within me is the same blood which flows through every person in this room, every person to ever exist and every person who will ever exist. We are all human – nobody is exempt from this. It’s that simple. I’d like to think that the word “humility” comes directly from the word “human.”
Definitively speaking, humility means to be grounded and humble. However, I think it has a far broader reach. I would say humility is the understanding that oneself, and all those surrounding them, are human. This is the humility that my dad has; he is so driven to help others because he sees them as no different from himself, no more or no less deserving to be alive and well.
Now, unfortunately, we as a people have a pretty bad track record in terms of humility. What I mean is that we tend to see each other as anything but human. We divide ourselves into abstract groups like black and white, put borders between ourselves, identifying as American or Canadian or European or whatever, and pick arbitrary categories of status, like who has the most money, who’s the best at something, or who was born into what family. All these labels do is strip us of our humanness and cause us to see each other as different, when we really aren’t. Then, our ego gets the best of us, and we become overly concerned with things that don’t actually matter, like chasing a status such as “rich” or “powerful” or “cool.” This has huge implications, because our desire to be better than one another stirs inequality and hate. For example, in this country racism has long been used by white people as a tool to stay in power, but the idea that an entire race could be below another is really impossible when one realizes that we are all just people, no more and no less, regardless of how we look.
Many are so misled by their ego that they hate, ruin, sabotage and even kill others – all of this seems justifiable when looking through our tinted lenses which show others in contrast and comparison, highlighting their characteristics and qualities as reasons they’re different from us, when really, we should be focused on the one resemblance we all share: being human. This is where your humility becomes such a definitive sign of your character. It takes a lot of strength to let go of your ego and see yourself as no better or no worse than everyone else, but it’s so important because this practice is how we will create more peace and love in the world. I believe having humility is more than just a piece of one’s ethics – it’s an understanding that embodies many traits and virtues. And only after I realized this does it finally make sense to me why humility has a place on our list of core values: humility is not a small sliver of our character. No, I see it as the ultimate display of character. I think that it literally encompasses all of the other core values. It’s the quality one possesses when they’ve mastered all 11:
Beyond understanding your place as a human, humility means to respect, be kind towards and include those around you because they too, are human.
Humility means to serve, because everyone deserves to have their needs met.
Humility means to work together with your brothers, understanding that your contribution is no more important than anyone else’s, and to be honest with all those around you because no one is undeserving of the truth.
Humility means to have the courage to stand up for your fellow humans, having their backs just as they should have yours.
Humility means to persevere through challenge, understanding that challenge is an essential part of the human condition, and there’s nothing that hasn’t been conquered before.
And finally, humility means to be responsible with and grateful for your life, because every day that you walk this earth is a blessing.
All men are created equal. Everyone is created equal – this is the principle that humility teaches. It may come off as pessimistic to say the world sees no difference between us, but the truth is, this is exactly why life is beautiful. Because no matter who you are, what you want, what your goals are, what religion you subscribe to, the point of life was never to be the best, or to be the richest, or to put others down and yourself above. The point of life, point blank, is to be alive. To be here now, right now, in the present moment. That’s it. We obsess over our ego and an imaginary status like it’s our entire purpose, when in the end, no one makes it out alive - so why be so concerned with things that ultimately mean nothing? Instead of worrying about pointless and trivial differences between ourselves, we should be focused on enjoying the present moment with the people around us that we’re so lucky to have. Oh, and beyond what humility can offer for your character, it will also teach you how to be true to yourself – because at the end of the day, who cares what other people think of you? You’ll only be comfortable in your own skin once you get a grip on the fact that our differences don’t mean all that much. Be yourself. As I said earlier, nobody in here is “special,” or in a sense “better,” than anyone else, but everybody in here is unique. And I think the only way to really be happy with yourself is to realize that your unique qualities don’t make you better or worse than anyone. They simply make up who you are. Forget about comparing yourself to others and doing things to create an image: do you, do what makes you happy. Have humility and accept yourself for who you are.
I’ve been thinking about all this a lot, and more and more I’ve begun to see life as an opportunity: sort of like a big blank canvas, sprawling out in front of you, and your only mission is to paint your story as you desire. It’s not a competition to see who can paint the best, so paint the colors that make you happy, and those that make others happy.
Spend time with the people you love, do the things you enjoy, and help those around you, because they deserve the chance to paint all the same. Heavy on the last one, because this is how my dad paints his story, trying to help everyone he can because to him, that’s what it means to be human. When we begin to see each other’s unique qualities and traits not as reasons to divide ourselves, but rather as reasons to celebrate how we are all individual and beautiful versions of the same whole, then we will begin to see more happiness and peace. This is what having humility can do for us.
Now, listen, I want to offer you all a choice, and this might sound pretty out there, but these are two different perspectives you could have on life based on everything I’ve been saying.
Option one, you could take the blue pill: You could live your life overly concerned with how other people see you, and how you see yourself, chasing your ego day in and day out. You could see yourself as different from everyone around you, putting them down as you focus on building this imaginary “status” I’ve been talking about. And maybe this would be fulfilling if you try just hard enough to ignore how imaginary it all is. You could live your life seeking out others’ approval, trying to be the best in ways that don’t really matter in the long run. Essentially, you could give up your opportunity to be yourself, to try and be someone you were never meant to be.
Or option two: the red pill. See yourself for what you really are – a human, a person, as is everyone else. You may or may not exist later, and may or may not have existed to begin with, but what’s important is that you exist right now, so take the opportunity to enjoy life. Forget about all these worries that we’ve created for ourselves and be present in the now: breathe in the air around you, feel your senses, and be blinded by the colors that you’ve never seen before when you realize that this life is all yours. It’s in the palm of your hands. You have the chance to be you, the true you, and help others achieve the same. All you need to do is step out of this stream of anxiety that we so often get lost in, and start forging your own path, designing your own life just as the real you wants it to be lived. Live this life in character, and in humility – this is how my dad lives, and he is one of the most shining examples of character I can think of.
Anyways, now I can conclude why humility is so important. It’s the principle which will destroy our hatefulness and division, as well as teach us how to enjoy life, and appreciate it for the beautiful thing it is. So, I want to leave you all with a question, and it’s a simple one. In light of everything I’ve said about humility, opportunity, and this new perspective on life that I’m offering, I want you to look inward and ask yourself, “Who are you? And what do you want?”
Click here to learn more about ethics, service, and leadership at Landon, and read this article about how our Upper School Prefects lead ethics lessons in the Lower School.