Last night me and my little man decided to tackle the ominous task of putting together a Bionicle. For those that don't know what a Bionicle is, just think: a G.I. Joe with holes in it, so it can be put together like a less stressful, less time-consuming Lego set. Fun times....well it was suppose to be at least. Initially when I told my son, "let's put the Bionicle together," he squealed with the type of delight that only a four year old could. By the time five minutes had passed, he basically was crying with a quickly evaporating sense of defeat. But we plugged through the construction in intervals, eventually finishing fifteen minutes after beginning our toiling. Why the hell was it so difficult you ask? Simply put, instructions and patience to my four year old are as good of a pair as me explaining to my parents that I don't think it's bad to listen to gospel music sung by Marilyn Manson (I bet that would be kick ass).
I think that instructions always get a bad rap. They exist in the same mental perspective as preventative dentist appointments, reading the bible, or running three marathons per week to train for that one you're in six months from now. They are all very necessary, but are completely loathed cause, basically, they all require patience (what a dirty word), which really, really sucks. Well, I'm not saying that the bible sucks, cause God doesn't like haters; What I am saying is that after all those years of content, you'd think that God woulda published some Bible-Cliff Notes. Anyway, they're all in their own respect (...they being any of the previously mentioned situations) too tedious, too time consuming, too abstract, and too painful to wait out to see what benefit they've served.....and who wants to be patient through any of that?
What is patience?
Patience is the state of endurance under difficult circumstances, which can mean persevering in the face of delay or provocation without becoming annoyed or upset; or exhibiting forbearance when under strain, especially when faced with longer-term difficulties. It is also used to refer to the character trait of being steadfast.
The problem my son experienced wasn't so much the fact that putting the action figure was really difficult, it was more so that he didn't want to take the necessary time to read through, comprehend, and implement the actions that the instructions described. It was like picture the finished product on the plastic wrapping on the box burned his hands with an unbearable anticipation. So he rushed through and basically picked up random pieces and began trying to force them into different, at-random holes. Now if this were Backstreet that might be ok, but in terms of.....errr bad analogy, forget that one. But you get where I'm going with that. We all have those four-year-old moments, probably more often than the times where our patience actually leads us. I wonder how the whole venture would have gone if he/we would have not only listened to me/others, but would have also read and followed the instructions given to us.
I see following instructions as a test of not only base comprehension, but also as testament to the benefits of having a patience with a life action that someone else has lived through, built, performed that will help you live a happier or more accomplished existence. Those printed or verbal dictations always seem so small, trivial, or even unnecessary. But when it comes down to it, somebody out there wanted to save some over-zealous beginner the head/heartache of going through what they had done way back when. Maybe we could save ourselves the difficulty, frustration, and anguish that normally is followed by our hard-headed, impatient decisions.
I hope that we can find the patience to make our lives easier to put together, or have the patience to stick it out till times get better.
Peace Y'all
