Patience & Fortitude

 

As we guide into the “Ides of March” (worthy of a future essay for sure,) the landscape facing us as individuals, citizens, voters, family members, business leaders, etc. is daunting.  The two active wartime “nightmares” (Ukraine and Gaza) are seemingly endless, with no end (or end-game) in sight.  Our world is rife with military coups, revolts, civil wars, gang violence (this week notably in Haiti) and the vision toward “peace and goodwill for humanity” seems ephemeral and hard to see.  Our own political landscape is divided and divisive, and the upcoming presidential election is showing all signs to be a close, hotly contested, schismatic event.  In businesses all over the world, the challenges to lead organizations, drive innovation and create value in changing times is a growing burden to leaders regardless of industry or market.

It's in this “complicated” (putting it gently) landscape that I turn to the two Lions pictured here, framing the entrance of the N.Y. Public Library, whose names are “Patience” and “Fortitude.”

 

The NY public library website shares these facts on the lion’s history:

 

Patience and Fortitude, the world-renowned pair of marble lions that stand proudly before the majestic Beaux-Arts building at Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street in Manhattan, have captured the imagination and affection of New Yorkers and visitors from all over the world since they were placed on their pedestals days before the building was dedicated on May 23, 1911. 

During the Great Depression, New York City Mayor Fiorello La Guardia dubbed them “Patience” and “Fortitude”, after the qualities he felt New Yorkers needed to get through it. As the world has changed, our lions have been there to see it and be a witness to history—all while remaining a steadfast symbol for what the Library represents: a source of inspiration and strength for all.

 

The fact that Mayor La Guadia “dubbed” the lions the names “Patience” and ”Fortitude” hits close to home, as My mother Arline and my dear Aunt Lorraine ( pictured in my last essay) both grew up during the depression in Mayor La Guadia’s  New York City and both of them spoke VERY highly of him as adults when I was a child.  I think in their mind, if La Guadia thought that New Yorkers needed to focus on these two “qualities” to endure the depression, they would focus on them personally!

 

As I explore the landscape today, I find these two attributes/ qualities in short supply broadly,  and I am personally focused on bringing them into my life/headset/actions.  Let’s look at each attribute/quality a bit deeper:”

 

Patience: noun, the capacity to accept or tolerate delay, trouble, or suffering without getting angry or upset. "you can find bargains if you have the patience to sift through the dross"

 

Fortitude: noun, courage in pain or adversity. "she endured her illness with great fortitude"

  

It’s vital to note that in each noun, the definition ASSUMES a problematic landscape.  The attributes of “delay, trouble, suffering, pain and adversity” are ASSUMED as part of the reality…. not to fantasized or wished away, but to be understood, fought with and overcome!  I for one find great insight in the details of these two definitions and will be focusing my energies on how to combine “patience” and “fortitude” as my personal qualities to handle the wide breadth of challenges facing all of us today!