We’re working diligently to change things in
our communities, our nations, our planet. We are
passionate advocates for what needs to change,
working tirelessly to restore hope to the future, to
create a world in which more people discover their
talents, learn and grow, and feel fully human.
But the problems are proliferating. They are
more complex, impenetrable, overwhelming.
Exhaustion and occasional despair are common
experiences. And so is the intensifying climate of
fear and aggression, not just in the greater world,
but in our relationships with each other.
According to Wheatley perseverance is what
keeps us going because we stay grounded and
steadfast, which, in turn, enables us to stay the
course so as not to get swept away by the negative
currents of life’s experiences.
In The Wisdom of No Escape, Pema Chödrön
discusses the importance of perseverance to help
us move through the darker moments of life.
When we respond to problems by ignoring them,
overeating, drinking, becoming discouraged,
or succumbing to our wretchedness, we need
perseverance to break these habitual responses.
She writes, “When you are feeling heavy-hearted,
when you find yourself in another dark place in
which you’ve been countless times . . .” that is
when you must persist.
“Perseverance is a common human trait,”
says Wheatley, “otherwise none of us would be
here. All of us come from families and cultures
in which people have persevered through
much worse circumstances than
our current challenges.” No matter
what we face perseverance keeps us
keeping on. Helen Keller once said,
“We can do anything we want as
long as
we stick to it long enough.” If you’re
going through hell keep going!” is
attributed to Winston Churchill
when he was faced with the enormous task of
leadership during WWII.
People who face the challenges of life, who
never buckle under pressure, who keep on
keeping on despite criticism, opposition and
overwhelming obstacles, do so because of their
determined resolve. Let us be assured that in this
life we will be battered and bruised, criticized,
attacked, opposed, demeaned, and we will
struggle and fall.
Pema Chödrön advises:
When a big wave keeps coming at you and
knocking you over, and “you find yourself lying on
the bottom of the ocean with your face in the sand,
with the sand going up your nose and into your
mouth and your eyes and ears, you stand up and
you walk. Then the next wave comes and knocks
you down, and you stand up and keep walking;
after a while, you’ll find that the waves appear to
be smaller. If you keep lying there, you will drown.
Even if you can’t seem to get rid of the sense of
drowning, perseverance keeps you walking.”
As Samuel Beckett writes in his novel The
Unnamable, “. . . you must go on, I can’t go on,
I’ll go on.” ●
news&views SPRING 2019 | 15