“Patience is a virtue”

Surely!

Ah!

But…

Is the patience of that killer-sniper

waiting for the victim in his site

to move just a little to the right

for a cleaner shot

and so to move no more

a virtue?

(Does it depend on the flag

the sniper wears sewn to his uniform?)

Perhaps.

Is the teachers patience with some

antagonistic, disruptive student

as he harbors a messianic hope

of changing his students anti-social behavior

someday,

a virtue?

(Does it depend on the number students

the bad behavior causes to miss-out

on the lesson?)

Perhaps.

Do I enable the incompetence of a business

by patiently waiting on hold

while ODE TO JOY plays for the fifth time

and my clock is ticking?

Is patience

in cahoots with vice

virtuous?

Name one Beatitude,

cut in stone

that holds true

as believers stroll past

row by row of messiahs

nailed to crosses

on row by row of Golgathas!

Patience needs, “depending on…”

to be a virtue

or not at all.

And,

yes,

“Honesty is the best policy”

remembering,

white lies grease the wheels

of relational and familial felicity.

Amen.