Patience in Work
We now move to the chapter about patience in work in Working Your Way into Heaven by Stefan Cardinal Wyszynski. Let's start with a distinction to better understand what we mean by "patience."
"Patience differs from constancy and perseverance."
Constancy and perseverance are more "active" than patience, which is, in a sense, a passive trait. While it's not a cardinal virtue, patience is related to fortitude. (Cardinal Virtues: Justice, Prudence, Temperance, Fortitude). Its relationship with fortitude tells us that, while passive, patience isn't born of cowardice or laziness. Instead, patience calls forth strength and courage in its application to specific situation.
Patience helps us deal with situations at work that cause us pain and sorrow, even those which may result from outright evil intent.
"...we are able to endure the evil done to us by others and that we shield ourselves from harmful sorrow."
With reference to "harmful" sorrow, there are times when we can't help but be struck by such sorrow. The following explains how harmful sorrow enters into our work, and the specific role patience plays in dealing with such sorrow:
"The evil that we must combat in our work may come from other people, from external circumstances, or from the very factors that make up the process of work...the struggle with them is more the concern of the virtues of perseverance and constancy. Patience, on the other hand, has to deal with the sorrow resulting from theses contrarieties."
Patience helps us deal with evil which we may witness or to which we may be subjected ourselves. Right now I'm dealing with the actions of an individual driven by evil intent to others. There exists the potential for such evil to be directed at me as well at some point. My first reaction has been a desire to wipe this individual and his deeds form the face of the earth! Of course, such emotions, while natural, must be replaced by clear thinking and planning. And such clear thinking and planning results from exercising patience, even in the face of such evil.
"Patience plays a great part in work. It has more than once been called 'the source and guardian of the virtues."
When confronted with unpleasantness, difficulties, or evil, we don't want to feel sorry for ourselves. As noted above, we might at first wish to strike out quickly and blindly. On the other hand, we may sometimes slip into a kind of torpor where we're incapable of thinking clearly or taking appropriate action. But if we develop the ability to be patient, we won't give in to these natural inclinations.
"The task of patience in work will be to control excessive and undisciplined sadness."
Without such control, our emotions may not only cause us to act and react impulsively, but may also settle in and cause us longer term negative responses.
"This sadness engenders discouragement. Under its influence people (no matter what their work, even if it was begun with enthusiasm) give way after some time to a state of depression, finding out a thousand 'buts,' tiny obstacles by which they often justify the lack of results in their work. They are trying not so much to combat the sadness in themselves, as to justify their 'buts.' They are people who are full of complaints, grievances, and lamentations, arising out of their state of sadness. Where such sadness is entertained, work is not joy; it represents rather the performance of a duty, getting drudgery over and done with."
We're not expecting our work to be a constant state of joy and excitement, of course. My own work has its moments of joy and sadness, excitement and boredom. That's likely the normal course for most of us. Patience will help us put these opposites in perspective. We learn to take the bad with the good. Frankly, if we can do that, we can avoid slipping into complaining and making excuses for ourselves when things don't go as we plan.
As a practical matter, I find this analysis of patience far more helpful than the nostrums pushed by those who constantly harp on "positive thinking" as the solution to any and all our problems. As Cardinal Wyszynski puts it:
"An impatient man tires himself out more and for longer at work...a man with self-control does the work entrusted to him far more quickly easily."
"Patience differs from constancy and perseverance."
Constancy and perseverance are more "active" than patience, which is, in a sense, a passive trait. While it's not a cardinal virtue, patience is related to fortitude. (Cardinal Virtues: Justice, Prudence, Temperance, Fortitude). Its relationship with fortitude tells us that, while passive, patience isn't born of cowardice or laziness. Instead, patience calls forth strength and courage in its application to specific situation.
Patience helps us deal with situations at work that cause us pain and sorrow, even those which may result from outright evil intent.
"...we are able to endure the evil done to us by others and that we shield ourselves from harmful sorrow."
With reference to "harmful" sorrow, there are times when we can't help but be struck by such sorrow. The following explains how harmful sorrow enters into our work, and the specific role patience plays in dealing with such sorrow:
"The evil that we must combat in our work may come from other people, from external circumstances, or from the very factors that make up the process of work...the struggle with them is more the concern of the virtues of perseverance and constancy. Patience, on the other hand, has to deal with the sorrow resulting from theses contrarieties."
Patience helps us deal with evil which we may witness or to which we may be subjected ourselves. Right now I'm dealing with the actions of an individual driven by evil intent to others. There exists the potential for such evil to be directed at me as well at some point. My first reaction has been a desire to wipe this individual and his deeds form the face of the earth! Of course, such emotions, while natural, must be replaced by clear thinking and planning. And such clear thinking and planning results from exercising patience, even in the face of such evil.
"Patience plays a great part in work. It has more than once been called 'the source and guardian of the virtues."
When confronted with unpleasantness, difficulties, or evil, we don't want to feel sorry for ourselves. As noted above, we might at first wish to strike out quickly and blindly. On the other hand, we may sometimes slip into a kind of torpor where we're incapable of thinking clearly or taking appropriate action. But if we develop the ability to be patient, we won't give in to these natural inclinations.
"The task of patience in work will be to control excessive and undisciplined sadness."
Without such control, our emotions may not only cause us to act and react impulsively, but may also settle in and cause us longer term negative responses.
"This sadness engenders discouragement. Under its influence people (no matter what their work, even if it was begun with enthusiasm) give way after some time to a state of depression, finding out a thousand 'buts,' tiny obstacles by which they often justify the lack of results in their work. They are trying not so much to combat the sadness in themselves, as to justify their 'buts.' They are people who are full of complaints, grievances, and lamentations, arising out of their state of sadness. Where such sadness is entertained, work is not joy; it represents rather the performance of a duty, getting drudgery over and done with."
We're not expecting our work to be a constant state of joy and excitement, of course. My own work has its moments of joy and sadness, excitement and boredom. That's likely the normal course for most of us. Patience will help us put these opposites in perspective. We learn to take the bad with the good. Frankly, if we can do that, we can avoid slipping into complaining and making excuses for ourselves when things don't go as we plan.
As a practical matter, I find this analysis of patience far more helpful than the nostrums pushed by those who constantly harp on "positive thinking" as the solution to any and all our problems. As Cardinal Wyszynski puts it:
"An impatient man tires himself out more and for longer at work...a man with self-control does the work entrusted to him far more quickly easily."
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