Teasing out a thought sometimes means pulling along any number of odds and ends you didn't know were attached, like tugging a thread on your sweater. Such is the case with plain ol', unpretentious Patience. I had no idea it was hooked to so much until I started messing around with the concept.
I thought about Patience and gave it a short jerk -- like a test-yank, to see what was attached to what -- and all sorts of things fell off my mental shelf onto the floor of my skull.
I should not have been surprised Patience has that much pull. If it is at all true we are here on this Earth, and in this Life to Work on Certain Things, then Patience was certainly poured out of the Master Assignment Spigot and handed off to me in its beat-up tin cup. (My Work was probably given out in a very hurried manner, too, so anxious were they to get Patience, and me, off the premises as quickly as they possibly could.)
Here's the thing, in a long overview burst: When people are under building pressure and increasing stress, more Patience is required, not less. It may seem counter-intuitive, like communication being much more needed by all sides during times of trouble or tension, not less.
If you've ever been salaried, working 80 hours a week, for example, you realize your hourly pay rate's in the toilet, and any free time is like pure gold. Conundrum: At a moment when your time has never felt so valuable, you are being paid less each hour than ever before.
On Monday, August 6, 1945, after six months of intense firebombing of 67 other Japanese cities,...
In its 38 years of existence, the USA TODAY Editorial Board has never endorsed a candidate for president....
