As the old saying goes,
‘A man who cannot tolerate small ills
Can never accomplish great things.’

The training school for developing this
Is a big family indeed
Where a large number of kids
Daily learn this by trying to tolerate
One another without grave differences --
The deep, slow, and everyday wearing effect
On one’s temper can scarcely be overestimated.

In the big family one learns
By necessity and by parental guidance
From early childhood
The need for mutual indulgence
And adjustments in human relationships.
Then, in social life, we submit to public pressure
As small fish swim into the mouth of a big fish.

Perhaps had our capacity
For sufferance been smaller,
Our sufferings would also be less.
As it is, this capacity for putting up
With insults has been ennobled
By the name of patience and deliberately inculcated
As a cardinal virtue by what is known as ‘ethics.’

I’m not saying that this patience
Is not a great virtue of Man. As Jesus said,
‘Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth,
And I’m not sure but that patience
Has enabled us to inherit this blue planet
And keep it intact. We hence inculcate
The patience consciously as a high moral quality.