Pesky Little Fox

I have often wondered what it means to have the patience of an elephant. I have heard the saying, ‘the patience of a Saint’ and you can kind of picture that in your mind, Saints walking around calmly assessing any given situation before coming up with an ‘instant’ solution to any given problem. But the patience of an elephant is something that doesn’t seem to make as much obvious sense to me.

Apparently, elephants are a symbol for keeping calm and having patience as elephants are generally calm and mellow creatures, unless their young or herd is threatened. The elephant is very slow to anger and is, therefore, a calming, stable and patient symbol.

When I was checking out a few ‘sites’ to explore this idea of elephants and patience further it also came to my attention that symbolically, an elephant appears in many of the great religions of the world, including Christianity. (One could explore, with fascination, this whole notion but sadly we do not have the time to get too far into this topic today.)

So, what am I talking about all of this elephant symbolism for anyway? Well, I was I trying to put together a connection with our current COVID-19 restrictions and the most recent setback that we have faced around our emergence from social isolation with the idea of becoming more patient human beings as a result of our current experience.

It seems like an eternity since this social distancing ‘thing’ started. We have made many sacrifices to get ourselves to the point where we were starting to feel like we could return to a life with a few less restrictions. As of this week our increase in COVID-19 cases has meant that restrictions not only stay in place but may be further increased to halt what may very well be what they are calling the ‘second wave’.

We have seen major devastation across the world caused by COVID-19. In Australia we are still in the middle of what has been one of the greatest and most unexpected struggles of the twenty-first century. And, until there is an ‘effective’ vaccination, there is no ‘finish line’ in sight.

Now, I would not say that I am the most patient person in the world. Actually I am not. And most people who know me would say so too. But our current global pandemic has taught us some very serious lessons. There is nothing that we can do to fix it, except to take the advice of the experts and to align ourselves to a commitment to the ‘common good’. ‘We are all in this together’ is a bit of a catch cry for the season and although it may seem a bit corny, it is true. It is only by working together that we will get through this. And there is a very pertinent need for patience.

In our world pre-pandemic our lifestyles had started to condition us to a life of less patience. We expect things to happen pretty quickly, we tap on our keyboards trying to make our computers work instantaneously, we buy fast food because we are hungry now, we wish the winter was over so that we can get back to the beach, we think the world has gone awry if the online parcel we await hasn’t arrived by tomorrow (and tomorrow is Saturday!)

The coronavirus doesn’t care how patient we are; it doesn’t seem that COVID-19 is at all interested in surrendering to our desire for it to be ‘over now’.

So, we need to work on developing the virtue of patience. We had a bit of practise time at home over the last three to four months; we did that pretty well. In light of our current resurgence of cases, we might need to do it some more.

Some of the great prophets of the Old Testament were well known for their patience. One in particular that I have read about this week is the prophet Elisha.

In 2 Kings Chapter 6 we read the story of the Syrians who are coming to destroy Israel. But Elisha has already ‘seen’ in a vision that they were on their way. No doubt in my mind, Elisha was definitely afraid of this impending invasion but he trusted the messages that God had given him. He told them to ‘fear not’ and when the King asked if the soldiers on his doorstep should be killed he said no and instead set bread and water before them. This story is well known for the lesson that it teaches about patience. It suggests that even if your enemy pushes you to the wall you need to apply wisdom and exercise patience. If the King had acted impatiently a great battle would have occurred and may have caused a bloody end for Israel (Can you see the parallels?).

Were there days when Elisha resented the call to be a prophet? Well ‘yeah’, I reckon so! It would have been a tough gig! No doubt he would have been bored at times, frightened at times, angry and discouraged. But did he give up? No! He had an important role to play in keeping his society safe; after all, he was the prophet to the King!

I have now heard that patience can be associated with elephants and I have read that impatience is one of those ‘little foxes’ in our lives (I love this!). Pesky little fox!

It’s a challenging time... maybe it’s a time for us to change with it.

Patience is a phenomenon that can often be difficult to enact. Why does it elude us at times when we might need it most? When the virtue of patience is exhibited it can also have amazing benefits on the peace of mind and the peace in our heart. And in our current circumstance it will be an important trait that may just get us on the other side of this global pandemic.

Kirrilee Westblade

Catholic Identity Leader

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