Nicholas Watts This I Believe First Blog Post H01: Group 1

I am an impatient human being. It’s an attribute that modern monochromic society breeds in regards to efficiency and production. We prefer hours to days, weeks to months, and even milliseconds to seconds. The faster and sooner, then the happier we believe we are as individuals. This flaw has long been something I wished to master and has come to symbolize large portions of my life. It is for this reason sentiment that I believe in patience. I believe in the virtue of Job and the perseverance and integrity that come not just from it, but also the personal growth that comes from dedication to this ideal.

 

To me, patience does not simply mean waiting on ones laurels and hoping to achieve goals. Patience is a combination of determination, understanding, and planning. My earliest memory of grasping this principle was when I was seven. At the time I remember my own sense of time being skewed and focused to my own desires and whims. There was everyone else’s time and my time. I also had a deep fascination with cars, something I shared with my grandfather. I remember vividly one day my grandfather took me to the National Corvette Museum in Bowling Green Kentucky. We had a marvelous time observing some of the fastest and most luxurious cars on the planet. As we observed the history of the first Vette’s in both car and film, I made it known to my grandfather that I thought it was silly that those early models took so long to create and what on Earth about them was worth such a wait?

 

 

Like any guardian, he impressed upon me the value of car: “Each piece of the car was made by hand. Body, tires, screw, bolts, engine: all had to be manufactured and compiled by the hands of a few hard working men. Sometimes the production took months, sometimes longer. And this wasn’t just some hobby these guys did on weekends and every other Thursday, this was a livelihood. Behind every piece is a story, a man and the family he supports. This car is a testament to the patience and diligence of hard working individuals and the time they dedicated to making a piece of engineering art and supporting others with their craft. That car is special because of the patience that made it valuable.”

 

While I was busy digesting this morsel of information, a curator of the museum had overheard the conversation and offered to let us sit in a 1953 Corvette that dominated the room we were in. As I took my seat in the passenger side the car flooded me with its fine detail and impeccable condition. The red leather seats seemed to swallow me as I imagined the toils and dedication that made such a machine. The Polo White Corvette was equally as stunning under the hood. Each piece as shiny and perfect as the day it was produced. This impressed the first principle of patience upon me: dedication.