"O GOD, GIVE ME PATIENCE; BUT, HURRY UP!"

 

“Rivers know this: there is no hurry…

We shall get there someday.”

A. A. Milne

 

Every time someone says, “You are in a noble profession,” my teacher-self gets a nice ego-massage. But, silently, I ask this to myself: “What is so noble about my profession? Is not every other profession as noble as teaching?”

One of the worst things that I do as a teacher, often, unknowingly, is losing my patience on my students. I, sometimes, expects them to be like me – do how I do, speak as I speak, achieve as I achieve etc. In a way, I think, that’s exactly how any other person, from any other profession, often, does… the bosses, coaches, trainers, doctors, parents, older siblings – all. I mean, all of us are in the same boat when it comes to expectations from those under our care… we, quite often, lose our patience… “Come on, do fast, and grow fast… become like me!”

It takes some hard knocks on our heads and some amount of honesty and humility to see how impatient we all are, sometimes… yes, with those under our care…

Several years ago, I had written in one of our books – ‘The Late-bloomer’:

 

GREAT MAN

“I wanted to make my younger brother - a Great Man!

Day-in and day-out, I sat with him…

tried to motivate him, coax him, train him, guide him, support him;

and kept reminding him –

‘One day, you shall be Great’!

Many years passed by, nothing dramatic happened…

I began to get frustrated… MAD!

Then, one day, he coolly told me –

“Brother, there are mountains, there are plateaus and there are plains…

Is it necessary for every soul on this earth

to be Great like a mountain?

I started thinking…

I started thinking.

 

Every role in life calls for patience… Whether you are a farmer or a gardener and whether you are a doctor, architect or a woodcutter… And, yes, whether you are a teacher or student… We know it, but, we often forget it… We run out of patience and expect roses to bloom in our gardens whenever we want them to, not whenever they are supposed to!

We know patience is everything… That, the trees that are slow to grow bear the best fruits.

But, we forget… The teachers and students, all…

So much for the ‘noble professions!

A couple of days ago, one of my friends and I were helping a little fellow (my friend’s nephew) for an elocution competition. The topic was ‘Failures are Stepping Stones to Success’. The little fellow had prepared a script according to his wisdom… and, here were we two grown-ups trying to make him an effective speaker like us! I seriously mean that, though we may not openly admit that…

It’s a great learning in itself to realize how impatient we all tend to be… particularly while helping little-ones blossom… As I said, often, it takes some hard knocks on our heads and some amount of honesty and humility to accept it… to let mountains, plateaus and plains in life … be!

Yes, it’s neither possible nor necessary for every soul on this earth to be ‘Great’ like a mountain!

Today, my friend, the little-fellow’s uncle, had greeted ‘Good Morning’ to me with this ‘sweet’ message:

It was a ‘bitter’ message, I knew. I quickly replied to my friend:

“Good morning, dear… An apt message to me and my kind!”

GERALD D’CUNHA

 

Pics: 1 & 2 pixabay 3 Anonymous

 

Video: Evan Carmichael