Patience: The Elusive Virtue

You find yourself standing in line. 3 months of anxious waiting has accumulated into a freight train in your nervous system barring down all barriers of control as you wait impatiently for the next few minutes to finally get to the end of the line and find relief. It’s like an uncontrollable urge to use the restroom that seems pretty easy to hold until you see the restroom at the end of the hallway. All ability to hold what is ailing you comes to naught as you sprint to the porcelain haven to relieve the aching extrudes that are fighting their way past you tensed muscles. You try and exercise patience during these moments, but, as was just illustrated, the level of intensity in seeking this relief can be so great that it is sometimes unbearable to contain yourself.

Inevitable during this wait in line you will express a small amount of your cumulative anxiety as you make the statement, “I wish this line would go a little faster.”

A supreme under expression of the torment you have put your mind through to keep your actions socially acceptable, yet, despite your efforts to remain as calm as possible, without fail, the audacity of some wise guy will feel it his duty to tell you how you should be more patient. This will most likely be expressed with the coined phrase, “Patience is a virtue…”

What does that mean anyway? Is this person referring to one of the cardinal virtues defined in scholasticism by men such as Peter Abelard: prudence, justice, fortitude, and temperance? Is it prudent then that I live my life according to the ancient theology of scholasticism and save my soul from a philosophical hell? Or perhaps this person is making reference to patience as a virtue by simply meaning it is something that reflects moral excellence or rectitude.

Regardless of the untimely remark of this inconsiderate person, perhaps there is some merit to what they are trying to teach. Is it as important to be patient in the end as it is in the beginning of all our experiences? During times of trial, is there a reason that we are urged to not only be patient, but to try and go about our lives doing “cheerfully…all things that lie in our power.”? (D&C 123:17)

Ugh! Why does patience have to be a virtue? Why must we be required to suffer so many injustices patiently? Why does it appear that all those who deal unjustly with situations seem to be the ones that are not suffering? Why do I always have to be the one to exercise this virtuous patience? Yet those who deal this injustice are those who seem happy and guilt free. As content as a little child who just got a piece of candy by pushing another kid into the ground and happily hums to himself as he skips over the crying child, all the while eating the sweet, sweet candy he unrightfully took.

I’m stuck in the middle of a line that isn’t moving forward! The longer I wait in that line, the further away the finish line seems to be. I swear I did what I was suppose to…why can’t I find relief? Where do I find the strength to exercise patience and temperance?

To be continued...