Words from the Hai Druid

Patience

December 19, 2016

Some say that patience is a virtue. A virtue is based upon moral excellence, goodness, and righteousness. It is a conformity of conduct to moral and ethical principles. So by this means, it brings to bear that these principles and moral conduct are not innate, but learned. I prefer to say that patience is a learned trait. Trait is a distinguishing characteristic or quality found in one's personal nature. Either way you define it, patience must be learned, but can it truly be taught? We can teach math, English, science and other academic studies, but how do we teach a trait or virtue? So many are quick to say that Religion is the key to teaching proper virtues or traits. If you believe in this religion or that religion you will learn the morals and standards needed to obtain the prized virtues or traits you desire. Does that really work? No, not really. How many people in your own faiths really have the trait/virtue of patience, let alone proper morals? Hard to think of that many, isn't it? Of course we can think of all those who are so virtuous at chosen times, only to be back stabbing, lying, and hateful people when they think no one is looking. Yeah, all those hot heads and those that just follow rhetoric kind of make you wonder, don't they? So how do we learn patience? I know, now you are thinking I will say you have to learn how to love, right? Nope, not this time. While love is part of the learning process to achieving patience, we also have to learn many other lessons in conjunction with love to really learn patience. Patience comes with age and wisdom. We have so many other lessons to learn before we can learn patience. It is not easy, either. In today's day and age, when everyone just has to have that new car every few years or that new i-whatever as soon as they come out, how can anyone really learn patience? We are bombarded by commercials and propaganda on getting the "new and improved," the "fastest," "totally upgraded," or basically, "the best thing since sliced bread" that we are pushed to a point where you can never really know what patience is. That "Keeping up with the Jones" mentality is also so prevalent in our culture. I mean, nowadays you are nothing in school unless your parents can afford to give you the newest i-whatever. Unless your family has the biggest or best wide screen, full stereophonic, LED, 3-D compatible entertainment system, you are nothing. Heck, when I was a kid, finally getting a color TV was totally awesome, even though many of the shows and reruns were still in black and white. It was really great when we finally got an antenna on the roof instead of the circle UHF antenna and the rabbit ears for VHF. Wow, how many of you know what that is? Kind of speaks about my age, doesn't it? To learn patience we have to learn how to communicate, which also means we have to learn how to listen. We must learn that the choices we make in life affect our morals and principles, so we have to learn how to make good choices, too. We must learn that while we are not supposed to judge others, we must also understand that we end up doing that anyway, so we must judge fairly and refrain from harsh or rash judgments. Yes, all the lessons we need to learn teach us how to have patience, but because of social pressure, let alone peer pressure, we never really progress to having patience. Logic helps quite a bit, along with thinking in a more conservationist and thrifty way. Do we really need that new car right now? I may want that double bacon, triple cheese, four patty burger, but do I really need all that in my system; let alone, should I spend the money for fast food when I have all kinds of food sitting at home that would end up going to waste because I don't use it before it expires? The difference in wanting something and needing something is quite different. We all want to have all the finer things in life, but do we really need them? Do we have to have that latest this or that? No, we don't. Life went on quite well, back before cell phones and pre-made meals you stick in the 2000 watt nuke-ro-wave. You also have to slow down to learn patience, take your time. For time is another key to learning patience since Life itself teaches the lesson of patience. Take the time to learn the lesson, and you will be closer to finding the enlightenment that will make you a wiser person.

So says the Hai Druid.