Laziness is Not Patience
There are those who hold to an interesting definition of patience. To them, patience means something that says you should wait until the time is just right before you do something. Take this example; it is about a man who has a family with a wife and two very small children. He has known for some time that he is going to lose his job, a job that has been hanging by a thread for over the last year.
This is a job that has no medical benefits or pension; it is only a contract position. It has absolutely no security. But, it is a job that pays well unlike some other jobs in the same kind of area of expertise. And, he gets to work at home.
When approached about his concerns for his family’s security, his standard reply is that he isn’t worried about their security. He must not be because he has yet to apply for one job, or, for that matter, hasn’t even looked in a newspaper help wanted section, or on the Internet that lists jobs available in his area. When pushed a little harder about what he is going to do his response is only that he is going to have to have patience and ride the job to the bitter end.
What I find so unusual is that he knows his job is coming to an end; he known this for some time but believes that all will be well – that patience must be exercised to see whether he will get another offer from another contractor in the same area. He isn’t very busy any longer either with his current contract. In reality, he only spends no more than two hours day actually performing any functions. So, what does he do for the rest of the time?
Instead of using his time to look for work, or rewrite his resume, he plays online computer games – that all.
Is this patience to see what will happen to his job with the hope that he will be offered another contract or is this laziness?
Sad. There seems to be no sense of urgency; no sense that he is putting his family in jeopardy not to mention the real possibility that he could lose his house. He has no money saved and if he is out of work longer than one month, the mortgage and the rest of his obligations will not be met.
As the old saying goes, Patience is a virtue, but laziness is not associated with patience in any form whatsoever.
There is one thing about patience that should be clarified. Patience is a great quality when it means that you can wait for the right moment to speak, or when you are confronting a rebellious child, or when you are thrust into a situation that means that cool heads will win the day where overreaction would cause grief, upset, or a major mistake. But, laziness means nothing of the aforementioned – it is the lack of responsibility, will or determination to act when even simple action could make a huge difference.
