Patience is the Stronger Position

I’m wondering about patience these days:accepting that things are what they are.I’ve studied and tried to practice that kind of patiencewith friends and family and colleagues and studentsand the everyday vicissitudes of life, and even with myself.And all of that’s one thing.  But then there’s the news.And Anthony Romero’s suggestion (he runs the ACLU)that if all else fails, “we may have to shut down the country.”If patience is about accepting how things are,is it also about waiting to see if all else fails?And about shutting down the country if it does? The Dalai Lama says patience puts us in a stronger position to judge an appropriately nonviolent response. That sounds so wise, to me. But so does Mr. Romero.