What we talk about when we talk about patience? CAUTION- some comic references used.
I have always loved Raymond Carver. And the title, as you might have noticed is inspired by his- “What we talk about when we talk about love”.
I have nothing to draw from the Carver’s short story here.Maybe some other day.
But as far as patience goes, let’s start-
I recently read Trevor Noah’s Autobiography — “Born a Crime”.What an amazing book.It was tragedy, comedy , history and an incredible life story all at the same time (Do watch out for its film adaptation). Trevor Noah’s story is all sorts of beauty, just like his comedy. He teaches a thing or two in his comedy which is a rarity, I feel like he is the Vir Das of South Africa or maybe Vir Das is the Trevor Noah of India.But then both of them have such cosmopolitan identites, it’s hard to box them to national identities.
Anyway, what I wanted to talk about here was- an idea from the book that I found so profound-
“ We tell people to follow their dreams, but you can only dream of what you can imagine, and depending on where you come from, your imagination can be quite limited.Growing up in Soweto,our dream was to put another room in the house.Maybe have a driveway.Maybe someday,a cast iron gate at the end of the driveway.Because that is all we knew. But the highest rung of whats possible is far beyond the world you can see. My mother showed me what was possible.The thing that amazed me about her life was that no one showed her. No one chose her.She chose it on her own.She found her way through sheer force of will”
And herein I think lies the idea of patience as well.
When you are poor, and don’t have a home to live, but what you dream about is not really building the home alone. You dream about a NOBEL in Physics.
When you are rich, and have so much that even if you handle your dad’s business, you can live the quintessential “upper class” life, but you don’t limit yourself to that. You dream about getting a JOB AT NASA.
I think what I mean to say is “PATIENCE is being able to see the BIG PICTURE”.(not a very original idea, but the truth).
Being able to see that- Will achieving what I think I don’t have ( in the shortest amount of time) or what people around me value ( in the shortest amount of time) make me content? Or maybe there is something that people around me might not value, and I would still take a lifetime to achieve that, but that will make me content not only at the end of my life but also during the pursuit of the proposition?
