Humanity

When homeless shelters allow people to stay with their dogs and other pets, more unhoused people become more willing to stay in a shelter. 

That’s what my team at the University of Southern California’s Homelessness Policy Research Institute learned when we evaluated California’s Pet Assistance and Support Program.

“Humble” is not a word my colleagues would use to describe me, especially early in my career. 

In fact, when word got around that I was researching humility, I suspect more than a few choked on their coffee. 

And even though I have spent over a decade exploring the concept as an attribute and as a practice, it wasn’t until I recently reflected on my own professional challenges that I truly understood how to embrace humility.

Standing at 5 feet 3 inches tall and weighing 136 pounds, Muggsy Bogues did not fit the typical profile of a National Basketball Association athlete when he played professionally from 1987 to 2001. The average NBA player during Bogues’ rookie season was 6 feet 7 inches tall and weighed 208 pounds.

It is important and poignant to recall the hard life of Mary Ball Washington, who struggled — mostly alone — to raise our Founding Father. Historians have left us with inaccurate and mostly unpleasant accounts of her long and laborious years.