Virtue in traditional Christian angelology is the seventh highest order of the ninefold celestial hierarchy.
So can being impatient ever qualify as a virtue?
Could it ever be considered behavior showing high moral standards and character? Be one of the paragons of virtue synonymous with goodness, righteousness and morality?
Be patient, my child
We teach our young rambunctious children to be patient. We repeat time-honored phrases like “Rome wasn’t built in a day.” We tell people to wait in line. Stay in order. Please be patient.
Yet I submit, your honor, there are times when impatience is in order and can be just as virtuous.
Patience on the road
You see the driver of the car in front of you stopped at the red light with the right turn signal blinking and there’s no traffic.
So why doesn’t she turn? Then you notice the license plate is from out of state and she probably doesn’t know in Florida you can make a right on red. So you wait for the green light patiently . . . virtuously.
What if the car had a Florida tag and the only reason the driver wasn’t making a right on red was because he was busy talking on his cell phone. That’s different!
That situation warrants an impatient loud honking of your horn that maybe will be an awakening, albeit noisy lesson to put the damn phone down while driving. There’s where impatience is a virtue that might even save lives one day.
Impatience in business
In the tense and often traumatic business world, which would you rather have? A CEO who’s patient? Or one like me, who is impatient for results, which in our case is media exposure for the ever impatient clients of my PR firm, TransMedia Group.
Yes, impatience to get the job done is often a virtue and the business owner who is too patient often will be too late at the reward gate.
P.S. my new book “Love Boat 78” is due out soon and frankly I’m getting very impatient my publisher is taking so long.
TM