GEN83 [One of the sources of humility] is the awareness that every human being with whom we interact is created in God’s image, and therefore as valuable as we ourselves.  The Talmud records the story of a man who came to Rava, the fourth-century sage, with a most disturbing moral dilemma: The governor of his town had ordered him to murder an innocent person; if he refused to do so, he himself would be put to death.  When the questioner asked Rava whether he was permitted to kill the man in order to save his own life, the rabbi answered, “What reason do you have for assuming your blood is redder [than the other person’s? Perhaps his blood is redder” (Pesachim 25b).  Indeed, by killing another, we may make ourselves less worthy of living than our victim.  Another ramification of this Talmudic teaching: Don’t exploit others, as historically was done through slavery, and as is done today by those who overwork, underpay, or otherwise wrong their employees.  How can one assume that one’s blood is more precious than the blood of those whom one mistreats?  This teaching has implications in far less serious areas than matters of life and death and exploitation.  For example, a humble person will not push ahead of someone else in line.  Rather, he will think, “What gives me the right to assume that my time is more valuable than his?”  TELVOL 1:213-4