Article Link: http://exchangepress.com/article/is-patience-always-a-virtue/5008234/
Everyone knows patience is a virtue. Right? So why do I get that uncomfortable feeling every time I hear someone claim that effective teachers have to have it? Why do we have to work so hard to keep it? Why do we worry so about losing it? Always suspecting a gap between what I think a word means and what it really means, I turned to the dictionary and would like to share my findings with you.In Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary, patience is defined as "the capacity, habit or fact of being patient," and patient is defined as "(1) bearing pains or trials calmly or without complaint; (2) manifesting forbearance under provocation or strain; (3) not hasty or impetuous; (4) steadfast despite opposition, difficulty or adversity." The Random House Dictionary uses slightly different words, "calmly tolerating provocation or delay." It is also interesting to note that the root words from which the modern word patient developed are Latin and Greek words meaning to suffer.
When university students, co-workers, and I discussed when we experienced impatience, or were afraid we would lose patience, several facts emerged. We had to expend energy to remain patient when ...