The Discipline of Perserverance
By Ty Bradley
Just when you thought the passage and subsequent upholding of Proposition 8 put into question California’s long-held reputation for being the “first” state to break new ground, we have secured our grip on that distinction. We have become the first state in our union to remove an existing constitutional right from a select sub-group of the state’s population.
Time, thankfully, is on our side; however, we cannot simply sit back and wait for the moral universe to bend our way to allow us to overtake the myopia of a past. Rather, those who wish to see a different day must remain vigilant in their efforts to bring that new day into fruition. This is not to say that we all must become Harvey Milk in order to gain full civil rights. Still, we would do well to follow his example by being uncommonly open to doing whatever we can, whenever we can, to advance our dreams.
Most of us have significant goals that we have yet to achieve. The truth is, if achieving these goals were easy, if the obstacles standing in our way were anything less than daunting, we would have already enjoyed the success of reaching them.
The ability to climb or move mountains in pursuit of our dreams requires uncommon inner strength. Too many of us settle for mediocrity with respect to our life goals because we lack the belief that what we want is worth fighting for, or we simply lack the discipline to stay the course in order to achieve it.
Is giving up ever the right thing to do? Sometimes. But, each of us would do well to distinguish between pursuits that are mere fancies and those that represent what we truly value and desire out of our time on Earth. Furthermore, we may find that our commitment to reach our goals requires that we give up on a present strategy we are engaged in and refocus our energy on another strategy that holds more promise of success.
We do ourselves a huge disservice whenever we throw our hands up in the air and claim that we have explored all avenues and exhausted all means. Perseverance is a discipline of the inner self, and if we fail to exercise that discipline in the small things, we will find ourselves unable to draw from that well for bigger issues.
Why is the discipline of perseverance difficult to master? The answer is simple: Failure, frustration and disappointment do not feel good. These things threaten to destabilize the most tenuous part of the human animal: ego.
We too often give up on our pursuits not because the effort required is too taxing, but because our instinct to protect our delicate egos causes us to pull back when we fear we will fail with too much of ourselves on the line. Few things are as painful as having our hopes dashed, particularly when it happens repeatedly. Who can fault us for wanting to spare ourselves the heartache and just divest from a seemingly lost cause.
But history does not bear us out in this regard. Our culture is littered with axioms that admonish us for forfeiture: “If at first you don’t succeed, try and try again” and “Nothing worth achieving is ever easy” are staples of American adages.
Perseverance is both a philosophical virtue and a potent practical force. The ability to contextualize the most painful failures as momentary setbacks must not be undervalued. As we fight to create the life that we envision for ourselves, we must ask ourselves in the midst of challenging circumstances, “Can I count on myself to stand by my side and see me through to the very end?”
In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus tells a parable concerning a widow who was seeking blind justice from a judge who had a reputation for siding with the wealthy and the influential over the marginalized and oppressed. The judge at first refuses to consider her claims. This powerless widow, realizing that her only hope for justice lie with the authority vested in this judge, refuses to take ‘no’ for an answer. Against all odds she perseveres, undaunted by the enormity of the challenge, and continues to pester this judge to make her situation right. At long last the judge, admitting he has no concern for what is right or just, agrees to acquiesce to her demands simply to stop her persistent nagging. He acknowledges that she has worn him out with her refusal to accept failure no matter how remote her chances of success.
The widow may or may not have understood the moral arc of the universe bending toward justice, but her persistence demonstrates a principle we would all do well to emulate as individuals and as a queer community:
When we steadfastly refuse to give up or give in, no matter how many failures and disappointments we must endure, we may one day look up and find that we have in fact bent our universe toward our hopes and dreams in spite of it all.