The Road To Rome Is Paved By A Thousand Steps
It’s been said that Rome wasn’t built in a day. Of course we all know now the greatness of Rome even thousands of years later. We see the end product, the pinnacle of western civilization in it’s hey day, unmatched by any other. But like so many other things, as outsiders we don’t see the hard work that was put in to get things to where they are.
All that work to make something great, from a city like Rome to a skilled athlete takes time and effort to take raw material to something to beholden. Those that reach the top have a vision, but they had to work on it without a certainty of success before they got to where they wanted to be. Working without any immediate payoff is a difficult proposition. The vast majority of people are unable or unwilling.
Delaying Gratification
A very relatable personification of this is that most people will choose the nice, steady, biweekly paycheck rather than any other avenue that could be less certain. A more extreme example would be the taxi drivers here in Africa. These guys live hand to mouth and if you try to use card to pay for an Uber ride where they get their payout at the end of the week, they will balk, a common reasoning they have is they need the fare you are about to pay them to buy fuel.
Of course anything that is great that far surpasses this subsistence style of living requires a delayed gratification. A working without guaranteed success that things are going to go your way. A confident assurance that things are going to work out in the end. A kind of patience, knowing that you have no idea when you are going to attain that which you are after, yet continuing at it knowing that eventually you are going to get what you are after. A persistent patience if you will.
Like water, the energy continually flows in a steady consistent manner, knowing that as it continually drips on the rock, it will eventually crack.
Kingston S. Lim
August 4, 2021
Freetown, Sierra Leone
Kingston S. Lim 