George Foreman
I've long been impressed by the former heavyweight boxing champion, George Foreman. He was a tremendous athlete, he remained competitive until an older age than most boxers, and he became a successful businessman. His work with the George Foreman grill is well-known and I recently learned that he is the pastor of a church. All in all, he seems an admirable man and I respect him greatly. I naturally read with interest a recent column he wrote on the subject of patience.
He points out that he had to wait twenty years between losing his title the first time and regaining it. He preaches the virtue of patience from the standpoint both of reaching goals and enjoyment of process along the way. I've written before about patience and how it helps us to enjoy the path but Mr. Foreman reminds us of how it also helps us to reach our goals.
My dictionary tells me that patience means quiet perseverance, quiet diligence. While resignation is an alternate meaning, I believe that patience doesn't mean passivity or the loss of energy or the failure to pursue a goal actively. It means taking the time to do one's best no matter how long it takes. Being willing to wait for achievement has the side effect of making the process more enjoyable and it doesn't detract from achieving our goals. The opposites of patience are hastiness, recklessness, a heedless, headlong drive to get somewhere. Impatience, the lack of patience, so often leads to failure that that alone should encourage us to be patient. But even if impatience doesn't keep us from achieving our goals, it takes away much of the enjoyment. As Mr. Foreman points out, impatience not only hurt him in trying to reach his goal, it kept him from observing the beauty all around him, it took away the pleasure of the pursuit.
While patience is, perhaps paradoxically, easier for the old to apply, it should be more important for the young. After all, who has more time. I'm not urging delay in pursuing goals or passive acceptance of failure. I'm merely suggesting setting a goal, persevering in seeking the goal and taking one's time in getting there. In that way, you have a better chance of achievement and you'll enjoy getting there more. At the very least, you won't step on anyone's toes along the way.
6-13-05
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