Persistence

There are times in our lives when persistence is the key to success. It is a driving force that enables us to do and achieve what we may have thought impossible. I believe I am someone who persists in life, in making it happen to the best of my abilities, in working towards my goals and this has saved me from defeat in many instances. Now, I am not always as successful as I would have liked to be, but all in all persistence has paid off.

What would we do if as children we decided that because we kept falling, kept missing the basket or failing math that we resign ourselves to a life of crawling, no sports and counting on our fingers to figure out the easiest of problems. I think we all agree that persistence is part of being human and in most cases it is a very good thing!

However, there are times when it is not so great. I believe many of us know of "that person" who continually asks the same questions thinking they will get a different outcome. Children tend to do this regularly, but eventually they learn. They learn that it is annoying, it is not acceptable to continue this type of behavior and in fact detracts from how they how they are viewed. We all can remember about the evil word "selfishness" when we were little. I suggest a flashback to our youth because I believe, in contrast to our adult life, it is then that we are most aware of our selfish ways as we are disciplined more quickly on when and how we were being selfish. When we get older, people tend to just stay away and ignore selfish souls and limit how they impact their own life. As we all know, there are few parents out there encouraging selfishness, at least we like to hope not and in return we would hope that no one wants to portray a sense of selfishness. However, many often conveniently forget that being persistent in the things you want without taking into account the feelings of others is selfish, especially when you know it causes them unhappiness.

I believe we all need to keep our wants in perspective and not just when it is easy for us to do. Just thinking of ourselves and not the impact of our actions on others is just selfish and not even remotely persistent in a good way :) I write this because I have seen selfishness in my life and it can be upsetting. It is hard to stamp out selfish persistence in those who are accustom to this behavior. It seems as though adults who are selfish act with disregard with many of the choices they make in their lives. It is as if they have forgotten how or that they should look around to see who may be stomped on, crushed or disheartened by their actions.

I believe the only good that may come from those selfish acts that impact us or those around us is to take note, learn from it and improve our own efforts to be persistent. To take a look at how we get there and not just getting what we want with whatever means available. To be persistent in a good way the next time around.