PERSEVERANCE

Perseverance would seem to be the most obvious of virtues for the Dedicant. Embarking on any course of study almost guarantees that the student will have need of this virtue before the studies have been completed; it is easy to think of many other things that would be more fun than continuing to read, write and think about the subject at hand. I know this from recent personal experience; I was a latecomer to university study, beginning my undergraduate work in my late 20s and completing it only this past December, all while continuing my regular full-time employment. There were many days when I was eating lunch with my partner and complained to him: “I really don’t want to go to class tonight!” I nearly always did go, however, spending more than three months of the next four years in the classroom and close to that much hitting the books on my own – but in the end, it paid off with a degree and honors recognition. It would have been so easy and felt so good at any point in those four years to “take a break” and ultimately never get back to my studies, but I persevered and reached the goal I was aiming for.

The myths we tell display perseverance more dramatically and occasionally on an epic scale: Frigg, doggedly securing the oaths of every thing in the Worlds that could possibly harm her precious Balder, and Hermod riding through utter darkness for a full nine days to try to rescue Balder from Hel. In the Mabinogion, Pwyll steadfastly resists the temptation to have sex with Arawn’s beautiful wife for an entire year as he masquerades as Arawn in Annwfn, leading to the friendship of Arawn and a great increase in his prestige. In a myth closer to our own time, I remember a particularly moving episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation in which the hero Picard is tortured by the evil Cardassians – and he perseveres despite the torment to be rescued with his integrity intact, having endangered none of his people by giving up strategic information.

All these examples point to the importance of perseverance in our culture. By remaining steadfast and sticking to a course of action or a principle, each of these people reap benefit: Frigg’s son stayed safe until Loki found the one thing that she’d overlooked, Hermod reaches Hel and secures the possibility of escape for his brother, Pwyll becomes the Head of Annwfn, and Jean-Luc Picard escapes the Cardassians bowed but unbroken. Perseverance is a virtue because difficulties crop up nearly any time we attempt to do something of value, and without perseverance we would give up and never do worthy things, which would be a shameful waste of the opportunities and resources each of us is given. By manifesting this virtue with courage and integrity, we can make the most of these gifts and make our world a better place.

BACK TO VIRTUES