Patience, Faith & Hope
I often say, that to achieve greatness you need three things; energy, perseverance and vision. All three attributes are irreplaceable and must be imbibed by any person who wishes to achieve superlatively in this world. The word ‘achievement’ has relative meanings to itself. While some may think of greatness as wealth or power, for some, even survival may seem as a great achievement. The meaning associated with any term changes according to each and every single person. Hence, here when we consider greatness, we are considering all aspects of that term; and not just one. Sure, the young village kid, who grows up to be the CEO of a multi-national company is great; but so is the dirty, ragged street-punk, who sells stolen watches to make a living. Simply put, in one case it is superlative achievement that equates with greatness; while in the latter it is simply the act of survival that we find to be truly worthy of appreciation. However in all these situations, there are three things that matter the most; three vital things that are catalysts in the road that leads to enduring and superlative success. They are energy, perseverance and vision.
Perseverance is probably the rarest of all attributes to be found in human beings. You can find many stubborn people; you may find many resilient ones; but perseverance is a whole other thing. It is the ability to hang on when the entire world including your own self is screaming at you to let go. It is the ability to keep on walking, no matter how high the odds may be stacked against you. It is the ability to stand in defiance against any and all hurdles that dare to weaken your resolve as you walk on the road that leads to your goal. In the end, it is this ceaseless perseverance that leads man to greatness; and to persevere on any road there are three things that man needs. He needs patience; he needs faith and he needs hope.
Many pseudo-intellectuals and atheists in particular would vehemently disagree with me when I say the word ‘faith’. That is inherently because they fail to understand that there indeed are forces beyond man’s control that in the end determine his destiny. The only way that man can have any say in that equation is through the sheer power of faith. Faith in itself has great power, for it can give man the motivation and the desire to walk on the hardest of all paths; it can on its own accord turn the tide in any form of struggle on part of the individual. Thus faith inherently becomes the most potent attribute in the life-journey of any individual. A man needs ‘patience’; for indeed in life, nothing happens before it is destined to happen. In the end, you just have to wait till the bus comes to you; only then can you board it. It is ceaseless patience that outlasts the test of time that leads an individual to success in his life. In this world, nothing can be acquired easily, and those who think thus are either deluded or are nothing but perpetual dreamers. You can only be successful with time, and thus when success comes your way, it is your patience that ensures that you remain in place to reap the benefits of your work. Thus at the end, we come to ‘hope’; the eternal dream wherein even the most destitute and demoralized of men can fantasize about one day becoming a king; it is hope that infuses within us the desire to achieve superlatively; it is ‘hope’ that makes us believe that indeed we as mere men can outlast the bad times; it is ultimately hope that reassures us that we indeed can attain the seemingly unattainable. It is hope that leads us to the promised lands.
In the end, perseverance is nothing but a spiked cocktail of all three; hope, patience and faith; all which endure innumerable assaults of misfortune, setbacks and miscalculations; to finally take the individual beyond the barriers of despair, regret and failure in a bid to ultimately lead him towards success; towards greatness; towards immortality… 🙂
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Tags: perseverance, Philosophy, success
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December 7, 2009 1:23 am
