“Patience: The ability to accept or tolerate delay, trouble, or suffering without getting angry or upset.”

“Virtue: Behavior showing high moral standards...A quality considered morally good or desirable in a person”

Patience is a virtue.  You hear it all the time.  Now we know what it means thanks to the the trusted dictionary.  I neither disagree with the statement nor what it means.  However I would like to explore it just one step further and point out exactly when and what situations where having the virtue of patience is acceptable (in my mind of course).  I am going into this because I think that phrase is often used without a full grasp of what a situation might need.  I think that phrase is often used to keep the impulses of people that would normally be impatient for valid reasons at bay.  It makes them a little complacent and a little too accepting or tolerant of the delays, trouble, or suffering that occurred.

I believe it is “okay” to be patient when and only in the event that a situation is out of your control.  When there is nothing else possible for you to do to affect a situation then you have to exercise patience and see how the situation pans out.  When you’re doing something that involves other people, or any other mechanism other than your actual self AND you have done everything required of you with a some extra on top for good measure then you can start to exercise patience.

Outside of that I think being patient should be held at bay.  If there is a result you want, and you want it right now or by a certain time, you have to let go of that patience and work like mad to reach that goal as soon as possible or by your set deadline.  People often say be patient, and that what you’re working towards will come with time.  I ask why wait?  I believe that impatience should add fuel to the already burning fire of desire you have to achieve whatever your goal(s) may be.

When Jordan was in the NBA he wanted to win a championship.  He didn’t sit back and say well I’ll just wait, workout, get better, and the championship will come in due time.  Not at all.  He was relentless in his pursuit of his championships.  He was relentless in his quest to become the best player he could be and win championships during his career.  Even when he came back at age 40, he didn’t sit back and say well maybe I can do it maybe I can’t.  Maybe I can be effective at this age I’ll just be patient and see how it pans out.  Not at all, he worked relentlessly and was often times better than the people in the NBA that were close to half his age.

In conclusion, be relentless in your pursuit of your goals and the virtue of patience should only be exercised when there is nothing else that you as an individual can do to affect the situation for the better.

Magnificent Su

Hope this finds you all in good health and spirits.

What’s to follow might touch a few nerves, but with it I’ll do my best to stick to what I’m good at and that’s giving MY opinion.  You’re always welcome to agree, disagree, and even add on if you like.  So here we go...

There are a lot of rules in this game called life, I don’t know them all. The few that I have learned over time I have a hard time following. I know my problem. I’m too young, wild, and free. I want it now.  I’m getting better at this patience thing though but I digress.  Two other major rules I’ve learned thus far are these.

1a. Know your role.
1b. Play your part.

This affects all aspects of life.  They’re intertwined with each other. To play your part you have to know your role. Oh and you have to accept said role too. Then and only then can you successfully play your part.

In the words of Charlamagne The God (105.1 Breakfast Club Morning show host & hip hop personality/journalist) … “Too many chiefs not enough indians. Too many Beyonce’s not enough Michelle’s. Know your place and play your position...Moral of the story is everybody can’t be Lebron. Somebody gotta be Chris Bosh and that’s perfectly fine. Know your role and play it well.”

I was talking to a friend of mine the other day and somehow we got to subject of the dude Beyonce was with before Jay-Z. Something about him sweating her as her career was taking off or something along those lines, so she dropped him so she could focus on her blossoming career.  Not too long after that Jay-Z swoops in and boom she’s out of reach.  I don’t know the validity of this story but let’s say it was true, that’s a good example to start with.  Now (in the event the story is true) think how mad the dude has to be knowing that all he had to do was chill, let Beyonce do her thing, don’t trip and he’ll be the one saying “yep, that’s my girl/woman/wife performing at the superbowl, and killing it I might add.”  That is where not knowing your role and not playing your part could land you. His role at the time was to be the supportive boyfriend and he would’ve been good, now he’s salty because she’s with Jay-Z and he’s with God knows who.  Once again I don’t know if it’s true, but I’ll say this, if I was him, I’d be hella mad. I’d definitely be a Jay-Z hater.

First I’ll start this with wishing everyone a Happy New Year.  Hope this year is better than your last.

This post is going to be broken up into two parts.  I was going to put it all into one but I don’t want to keep you reading for too long (I sometimes have the tendency to ramble).  Plus both parts deal with two different yet similar subjects.  So below is part one. It’s called “The New Year: How new is it?”  I don’t know what I’m going to call the second part 2 yet but I’ll be sure to let you readers know that it’s the part 2 of this post.

Now to my personal opinion of the new year...