Patience
Contributed by Debra McGhan
Patience. It is said to have this is a virtue. I’ve realized over my seven decades of life, it’s not inherently one of my better traits. Ask anyone who has driven or ridden in a car with me. I admit I have trouble understanding why it takes some people so long (in my mind) to figure out what’s going on in any given situation. Like, look left in a roundabout, that’s it. If no one is there, go.
I have learned, in many cases the hard way, that there is great merit in this virtue of patience.
Understanding how to embrace this quality, practice, and hone it is proving well worth the effort. Patience has saved me from deadly injuries, allowed me to achieve goals without giving up, and so much more.
Patients and perseverance make a good team. I admit I often get bored or distracted trying to be patient so I move on leaving the thing I was so impatient about unfinished. I have plenty of those projects like cleaning closets, organizing boxes of photos, creating a museum exhibit, and books I’m writing but have yet to finish. I’m planning to get to these projects… someday. Life willing. At least that’s my big ambition.
Until someday comes, I’ll keep persistently pushing forward with impatience toward self-generated goals that I have hopes will one day actually help to improve the world. Or at least my tiny part of our planet. Right now, with the United States population at seemingly odds over a multitude of topics, I find it more important than ever to be patient with friends and family that may see things from the opposite side of where I’m looking. I’m confident that one day all of this will pass and we will be facing new challenges. I pray those do not include a war being fought in our backyard.
I do know, and history has proven this fact over and over, that when people band together for a common good, they can achieve anything. Instead we are living in a time when wars are waging across the planet and festering right here in America. It is a sad crime that so much money is being spent on guns and bombs instead of food to feed the hungry, homes for the homeless, and most of all, fighting a changing climate that will inevitably kill us all if we don’t do something as a collective planet to alter this course we are on. You can be a denier all you want but hurricanes, tornadoes, wildfires, floods, heat waves, earthquakes and more do not care what you ‘choose’ to believe.
It doesn’t matter which side of any issue you are on, eventually reality will show us all the truth. It’s only a matter of time.
For many, the possibility of something catastrophic happening doesn’t make any difference to what they believe because they are not currently being affected. But like everything in life, if you choose to ignore the facts about a problem and are not prepared, it will not matter when reality comes knocking. Unless you are actively trying to find the truth by patiently following the facts and then preparing accordingly, the odds are the outcome will not be favorable.
I embrace the philosophy, ‘In a world where you can be anything, be kind.’ That’s what I want to be. Kind, thoughtful, considerate, persistent in achieving goals, and patient with the way things are today because they will change. They are changing. As a friend once told me, life is change. I’m hoping that the next chapter in our lives will have new characters who are positive role models we are proud to look up to and aspire to be like.
I strive to practice patience because a new day is coming and I know the things we are stressed about today will not even matter anymore. Today I’m preparing for things I cannot control but know might be coming like emergencies and natural disasters. I am listening to my gut and if something doesn’t feel right, I trust myself to keep searching.
I’ve learned the hard way, we may only have today. So be patient with yourself, your family and your friends. We’re all in this together and one day we will all be gone.