All right. I'm not famous for my patience. But I feel that this is due more because of the definition for patience most individuals choose to use. For instance, if I have a clear objective in which I am determined to succeed, and there are certain requirements that must be accomplished in order to meet my objective, even if these requirements take me years of incessant, unrelenting, hard work, doing things I truly dislike on a molecular level, I will in fact do them, in a constant cloud of irritation, but still giving 150% all the time.
However, there are other things that I cannot endure for 45 seconds. Take for instance the classmate who desires my assistance with some difficulty he is experiencing in grasping the concepts and executing the homework requirements of a course. Should this individual begin, after my inquiry as to the specificities of his confusion, by spending 1-5 minutes describing his emotional state as a result of being unable to "get" the material--within about 10 seconds, steam will begin to come out of my nose...followed speedily by steam escaping from my ears and eyes, my eyes turn red, horns begin emerging from my skull, and by minute 2, steam is escaping from every pore of my body with the exuberant abandon of a steam locomotive having arrived joyfully at the station, think circa 1890.
But what is remarkable is that I do not lash out verbally enlightening the student as to his insurmountable state of idiocy in wasting precious time examining his emotional state rather than fixing the actual problem, but instead I put in my imaginary ear plugs, turn away from the noise box, open my text, and resume my work. This is a feat of amazing patience! (As an aside, what is truly impressive is that 9 times out of 8 this individual will continue talking as if he were paying me $200 an hour to lie on the sofa and tell me about his problems and will eventually drift into the consciousness and attention of a fellow student who makes the mistake of looking interested, at which point the aforementioned dullard carries on with the new student as if a transition never took place).
However, if a student, in response to my query, explains precisely the point of confusion, I will take an extensive amount of time in carefully going through the problems, sharing my notes, giving clues as to short cuts and helpful supplemental instruction, and providing support not only in that moment but ongoing throughout the remainder of the course.
In dealing with my children, I can only say that I could never be an adoptive parent. I need the absolute assurance when dealing with the ineptitude of small humans, that I am entirely responsible for all the bad traits, illogical habits, and the genetic composition that produces a catastrophe on this level which I have to deal with on a second by second basis.
The other day, when I would have done better to put in my ear plugs, apply duct tape to my mouth, and continue on with my own homework rather than overseeing the work of the resident humans, Oliver asked," Mom, do you even have a fuse today? Because I'm sensing there is only the bomb." To which I responded," I have a very long fuse when I'm not dealing with complete idiots." At this juncture four people exploded in laughter and Oliver voiced the opinion of the whole with the words," Yeah, that means you have no fuse today."
Mmm. Perhaps the lack of fuse is the reason that these people have the epidermis of a rhino hide. Just a thought.
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