My father was raised in an orphanage, and my mother was an immigrant from Poland whose first childhood memory was of hunger. Somehow, despite all of that, I am called a member of the 'elite.' If so, I damned well earned it.
At one level, an award is an endorsement, a confirmation, but I always find myself looking askance at awards and good reviews, as though another Garry Disher had earned them.
It took me a lot of years on the 'Burnett' show to feel like I had earned the privilege to play in the sandbox with the grown-ups.
In wickedness of pride is lost the light to understand how little grace is earned and how much given.