Seize the Patience

“Seize the moment man, you only live once! How often are you going to get a chance like this?"  

“Hold your horses son, no need to rush things. Give it some thought and sleep on it.”

             
I found this infuriating. I felt immobilized with indecision once more. This same debate would play out in my head every time I had a significant choice to make. Which would I regret more, action or inaction?

Carpe Diem. Patience is a Virtue. These are two of the most commonly expressed adages in our society. I, as most, have heard them both throughout my life. I believe I understand their value and have tried to take them both to heart, but it’s extremely difficult when they seem almost inherently contradictory. It’s not as if this is a moral dilemma, a bout between righteousness and temptation; it’s a question of wisdom, of which will provide the more positive outcome.

Sometimes I love embracing spontaneity. It can be liberating and lead one to do things they might not otherwise. But when the entire concept is predicated upon acting with minimal forethought, it can naturally lead to some serious regrets. Put another way: If I’m living today like there’s no tomorrow, when tomorrow actually gets here the price to pay may well not have been worth it, especially if this could have been improved by simply acting with a better plan in mind.

Carpe Diem is a highly romanticized ideal, and the crux of almost every commencement speech. I find this somewhat odd though because it’s often highly impractical, but I guess for a few brief minutes everyone likes to dream; Ben Franklin’s maxims on saving pennies aren’t quite as exciting. A friend who accompanied me on my trip to New Zealand bought into this hook line and sinker and would repeatedly encourage me to do the same. Every time we had the opportunity to do something that was optional but especially interesting or unique he would take part and without fail turn to me and plead, "Come on, how many times are you going to be in New Zealand?!" This worked on occasion, and I'm glad I had him there putting it into perspective for me, but more often than not I turned him down, not out of fear of bungy-jumping or helicopter rides or taking a leap off of the tallest building in the Southern Hemisphere, but out of concern for my college student's checking account. It was hard to justify spending hundreds of dollars for literally a few seconds of joy.

One of the most effective and succinct counterpoints to Carpe Diem I can recall comes from The Mask of Zorro of all places. The inexperienced protagonist spots the man who killed his brother, and tries to take advantage of the moment by rushing headlong into battle to exact revenge. His mentor stops him at the last instant, stating, “You would have fought very bravely and died very quickly.” Well Put. Further, I think impressing this notion so deeply upon people in our culture can have unintended side effects, creating ever-present expectations of instant gratification, which could lead into a whole additional discussion on how this impacts and is impacted by society and the media.

Interestingly, one locale where this doctrine is often reviled rather than celebrated is in politics, with both parties accusing the other of engaging in the practice to no end. Liberals, we are told, are irresponsible hippies who spend recklessly. In their personal lives they do "whatever feels good" without thinking about the moral, even eternal, consequences. Meanwhile, Conservatives are greedy corporate hacks, only looking to maximize short term profits as much as possible, with no forethought for the detrimental environmental implications. They want more drilling, more mining, less regulation.

On the flip side, sometimes a swift decision is needed, or sometimes it just makes things more enjoyable, providing the thrill that comes with a risk. Sometimes I feel a thick rush of inspiration (or in some cases adrenaline), and if I don’t act now, it may well fizzle out altogether. In this instance, what seems like the more responsible and measured approach, perhaps going to bed or systematically weighing pros and cons, is in fact simply stifling. This happens with my writing all the time; it can take months to regain that faded momentum (it has happened with this very post in fact).

So, what do I do? I have the passion and confidence to act right now, but the moment isn’t opportune, and failure could greatly hinder any future chances. If I wait for a better time though, will I be able to rekindle the self-assurance required to follow through? Slow and steady doesn’t win if the race is a sprint. Is patience then just a euphemism for cowardice or lack of initiative, just an excuse for inactivity? I think sometimes it can be, but it can be very difficult to recognize when I’m using this as an excuse and when patience is a legitimate course.

In the end it’s all situational. Sometimes spontaneity can be useful or even life changing in very positive ways. But sometimes pondering things over or just waiting for circumstances to cultivate more favorably is the right call. As this applies to writing, I may have a burst of creativity and rattle through several pages, but often when I pull back for a few minutes and just think everything through from a removed perspective, whole new ideas appear to me or flaws become recognizable.  I suppose then my main issue is with how these ideals are disseminated in our society. Both are espoused with great frequency, and almost always presented as universal truisms or philosophies to live by. When examined back to back though, it’s clear they can’t both always be right, and almost nothing in life is consistently that simple, so it seems almost irresponsible that they’re portrayed as such. This is may be one of the more prominent Catch-22’s in Western culture, a classic case of mixed signals.

In sum then, I believe both concepts have significant merit; the issue is determining when each one is best suited for a particular context, and that is far easier said than done. Sometimes wracked with this uncertainty I end up ignoring, giving up on, or missing out on opportunities completely, and this too must be avoided. Perhaps the real lesson to take home then can be expressed in an arguably even more revered motto: Practice makes perfect.