Patience...


“Patience is the best remedy for every trouble.”
Plautus

            I chuckled when I started typing the content of this topic because I know how little patience so many people have. This topic made me recall the Chinese proverb that says: Patience, in a moment of anger, will prevent a hundred days of sorrow. So today, I ask of you to have patience while we rethink our own levels of patience.

Some say that patience is a virtue, why are so many people then so impatient at times? W.H. Auden (renowned poet and playwright) thinks that patience is the only cardinal sin because we were driven out of paradise because we were impatient, and it is because of impatience that we cannot return. For Kafka (the Austrian novelist), all human errors are due to impatience. He explained impatience as a premature breaking off of your methodical procedure, a fencing-in of what is apparently an issue.

We need to learn to practice good manners and be patient if we want to make a difference. Patience does not come naturally, you have to practice it. I believe that it (as a virtue) is something that will come to ripeness through continuously exercising it, through facing tribulations and setbacks. Helen Keller (author) observed that we could never learn to be brave and patient if there were only joy in the world. Someone with patience may overcome anything, for patience do more than strength and fury can ever do. Think about this, please, and if you knew Helen’s story, you would come to know that she was the embodiment of patience. Kwame Nkrumah (first prime minister of Ghana) knew this when he said that the gains of violence are transient but the fruits of patience are imperishable.

There you have it – it is in your hands – do with patience as you please. Just remember this – the outcome will be yours to live with.

Patience is a virtue, so it has been rated!
Practice it and you may become elevated.
Impatience however normally leads to disaster!
Prevent it from ever becoming your master.




Comments