On pride, patience and calmness

A interesting conversation happened just over a week ago, on the topic of pride and I think I can share some of my thoughts. Firstly it seems, as if people lack pride in what they are doing, but on the other hand many have a whole supply of personal pride i.e. a large ego. So you might get the worlds worst carpenter, who will want to start a fight with you if you accidentally bump into him on the pavement.

The ego part, seems to be the case for a long time in history, but the media ‘macho’ vision is possibly aiding its development. The lack of pride in ones art is more of a interesting case, as it manifests itself in the low quality of many products and services (I will also discuss this in my next post). It seems like part of the problem lays in the lack of respect that people people have for their professions, everyone wants to be a manager but no one wants to start from the position of the manual worker (this is widely observed in the population of Non-Educated Deliquents who seem to despise of many jobs, even when un-employed, as they are either ‘jobs for emigrants’ or they want something better - but if you have 0 jobs on your CV it is logical to try to get something on it for a start, isn’t it???). Managers, doctors and lawyers seem to be the only REAL jobs for many people. But society needs good carpenters, as not everyone wants to buy cheap IKEA stuff, but wants the real deal! And how can people do their job efficiently if they do not have any motivation and people who take pride in their jobs, are more likely to pay attention to the details and be motivated to do their best. And as my friend said, a good garbage cleaner is of higher value to society than a rubbish doctor.

Part of the issue might lie in the general notion of lack of patience in modern times. People are in a hurry, as they want more (once more, this will be discussed in the next post); this results in the lack of quality - as there is no time for it. Being in such a rush, we are also unable to see the beauty of the world around us. We can’t appreciate neither the light breeze, nor the sound of the wind in the leaves and the movement of brunches in it. This takes away those small pleasures of our lives, the ones that can fill everyday, but people seem to want big stuff. Big stuff neither does happen often, neither it usually lasts long. Also in this race, people tend to stress, which has negative effects on our health and makes us more prone to mistakes.

The old sages new that patience and calmness are gold. Great knowledge takes time to be gained, great peaces of art take long to be made, they all require patience and calmness and pride in once creation. Such approach improves our everyday experience of life and our skill in it. So go and make yourself a cup of fine tea and bless the Lord for the beauty of the day.