I read Loretta Lynn’s memoir last week. It was an interesting look into a particular place and time and music genre, and her rags-to-riches story is compelling.

I was struck by how often Loretta wrote that “I ain’t no better than anybody else.” The entire second half of the book (the half after she experienced success) is dusted with this phrase, and it seems genuine. She never felt that her success made her superior.

It got me thinking about the nature of humility. Humility sure looks good when it’s accompanied by success. Rich people, famous people, beautiful people, creative geniuses, math geniuses, do-gooders: if anything they shine a little more brightly with some humility thrown in the mix.

But what about the non-successful? Have you ever heard a regular, non-successful person proudly state that they ain’t better than anyone else? You’d probably just shrug in their general direction. Yeah. We know. We can tell by looking.

Humility: looks good on the red carpet at the Met Gala, but just seems odd behind the counter at Starbucks.