Fishers High School

HUMILITY WINS Last Sunday night, as green and white confetti fell from the sky in the New Orleans Superdome, Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts stared admiringly at the Vince Lombardi trophy he cradled in his arms. Hurts had just won his first Super Bowl - his Eagles defeated the Kansas City Chiefs, 40-22 - and he’d just been named MVP for his outstanding performance. For a professional quarterback, he'd reached the pinnacle of individual achievement. Ironically, his big moment - when all the eyes and attention were on him - helped to highlight one of his most impressive and most important qualities. In world of arrogant, entitled, selfish athletes, Jalen Hurts is a model of humility. He exudes confidence but not cockiness. He is respectful - not resentful - of the struggle that his MVP achievement has required him to endure. He's committed to elevating others and their place in his pursuit. Humility's been a key character quality for Jalen Hurts, and it needs to be for each of us here today, too. Why? Because, as the Super Bowl MVP proves, humility wins. Here are three specific ways humility helps us win… 1) Humility helps us keep improving. The truth is, in any important area of life, who we are isn't nearly as important as who we're working to become. An arrogant, know-it-all attitude encourages us to diminish or neglect the learning opportunities that are presented to us, but a humble, learn-it-all mindset highlights that our continual improvement is both possible and necessary. In his Super Bowl postgame press conference, Jalen Hurts highlighted the importance of his own on-going development. “Personally,” he said, “I’ve just been able to use every experience, and learn from it. The good, the bad - all of it.” Two years ago Hurts led the Eagles to the Super Bowl, but lost. “It wasn’t my time,” he reflected. “Going through those emotions and processing that experience lit a great flame in me and enhanced my desire to win.” For each of us, the most effective formula for success is simply to keep getting better. 2) Humility helps us handle our challenges. Jalen Hurts' journey to the top of the mountain has included a number of roadblocks and detours. As a top college quarterback, he led his team to the National Championship game, only to be benched at halftime. His replacement thrived, and he spent the whole next season as a backup before transferring. Four other quarterbacks were selected ahead of him in the 2020 NFL draft. He's been questioned, criticized, and routinely roasted by Philadelphia's notoriously negative fan base. Hurts has taken all of it in stride. While a sense of entitlement gives us the impression that things should come easy, humility allows us to accept that challenge and adversity are a part of any meaningful pursuit - including our own, and it helps to build in us the resilience and fortitude for the long and winding road success requires us to take. “It’s been a long journey,” Hurts said after the Super Bowl. “A journey of ups and downs, and highs and lows. But I’ve always stayed true to it in the end.” Humility helps us embrace the process and build the perseverance it takes to reach our desired destination. 3) Humility helps us appreciate others. It’s not that hard for any of us to get caught up in the personal side of our winning pursuit, but humility highlights that success in any area of life is a team game, and that we have an important responsibility to acknowledge others for the part they play. In the closing moments of the Super Bowl, Jalen Hurts embraced newly acquired running back Saquon Barkley and honored his role in the team’s success. “We were right there,” Hurts told him, “but you were that last piece.” Later, Hurts praised his defensive teammates, proclaiming that “offense wins games, but defense wins championships.” Hurts realized that in his MVP moment, the big stage provided him with an opportunity to share the credit he rightfully deserved. That opportunity is available to each of us on a regular basis, if we're humble enough to recognize it and take advantage of it. Jalen Hurts provides for each of us a powerful example and a great reminder that humility is a key character quality in any winning pursuit, including yours here today. I’d challenge and encourage you to evaluate its role in your experience, and to recognize where you can keep cultivating it moving forward. In a world of arrogance, entitlement, and selfishness, it’s humility that sets you apart and makes you worthy of the success you say you're after. Super Bowl MVP Jalen Hurts proves it. It’s humility that wins.