Proverbs 16:18-19
Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.
Better to be lowly in spirit and among the oppressed than to share plunder with the proud.
I was new to my job as a systems analyst in a hospital laboratory. Although I’d always considered myself to be computer savvy, I was rudely awakened to the world of coaxial cables, null modems and Unix. Day in and day out, I learned just how much I didn’t know about computers, and I was beginning to despair of ever mastering the world of lab information systems.
One day, a lab tech called me to inform me that one of the lab instruments wasn’t communicating with our system. I told my boss, who promptly handed me a procedure manual and told me to bounce the instrument interface. I took the manual from her hand and trudged down to the computer room, wondering if I could bounce the whole computer out the window instead of the interfaces.
I sighed and took the seat in front of the console, placing the instructions in front of me. I slowly stepped through the process, and to my amazement, the instrument came online. I was ecstatic! I snapped the manual shut and ran back to the office, boldly declaring my victory! I received polite congratulations from my co-workers before they turned back to their own work. I was about to declare myself a true computer guru, when the phones started ringing. Yes, I had brought the problem interface back online, but had managed to disconnect every instrument in a 4-hospital system!
This goes to show that lack of humility comes about 5 seconds before total humiliation!
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