Perseverance: Drive; the motivation to pursue goals even when that pursuit becomes difficult.(1)
Perseverance, noun (\ˌpər-sə-ˈvir-ən(t)s\) :continued effort to do or achieve something despite difficulties, failure, or opposition :the action or condition or an instance of persevering : steadfastness.(2)
Indo-European cultures are replete with myths of the heroic, and if there is one thing that all of these heroes have in common, regardless of which culture they originated from, it's that they all demonstrated perseverance through difficult times.
They all encountered ordeal, persevered, and often triumphed, thus becoming shining exemplars for us in our own lives. The hero is not the one who gives up and decides to just sit around feeling sorry for him or herself, but the one who continues to strive, and it's through the striving that that heroism is conveyed, as opposed to the triumphing.
My favourite example of perseverance from a somewhat unconventional heroine, is that of Signy from the Volsunga Saga. After being married, her husband betrays and kills her entire family save for the one brother she manages to save, and so she then enacts a revenge plot that takes years to complete. During the course of that revenge, she sacrifices her own children, commits incest with her brother in order to breed a pure descendant of the Volsung line, Sinfjötli, and finally sees her husband dead. There is no triumph for her, save for the fulfillment of Frith, that force that demanded blood for the blood of her family. In the end, she chooses to die with her husband, declaring herself 'not fit to live' because of the lengths she had gone to in order to attain that vengeance for her family. Perseverance reminds us that it's not failure that is to be feared, but giving up, and that effort should always be lauded.
Words - 263 (excl. quotes)
Sources (the formatting *really* didn't work, this computer gives me a sad)
1. Our Own Druidry: An Introduction to Ar nDraiocht Fein and the Druid Path (p. 62). Tucson, Arizona: ADF Publishing.
2. (n.d.). Retrieved April 24, 2015, from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/perseverance
Perseverance, noun (\ˌpər-sə-ˈvir-ən(t)s\) :continued effort to do or achieve something despite difficulties, failure, or opposition :the action or condition or an instance of persevering : steadfastness.(2)
Indo-European cultures are replete with myths of the heroic, and if there is one thing that all of these heroes have in common, regardless of which culture they originated from, it's that they all demonstrated perseverance through difficult times.
They all encountered ordeal, persevered, and often triumphed, thus becoming shining exemplars for us in our own lives. The hero is not the one who gives up and decides to just sit around feeling sorry for him or herself, but the one who continues to strive, and it's through the striving that that heroism is conveyed, as opposed to the triumphing.
My favourite example of perseverance from a somewhat unconventional heroine, is that of Signy from the Volsunga Saga. After being married, her husband betrays and kills her entire family save for the one brother she manages to save, and so she then enacts a revenge plot that takes years to complete. During the course of that revenge, she sacrifices her own children, commits incest with her brother in order to breed a pure descendant of the Volsung line, Sinfjötli, and finally sees her husband dead. There is no triumph for her, save for the fulfillment of Frith, that force that demanded blood for the blood of her family. In the end, she chooses to die with her husband, declaring herself 'not fit to live' because of the lengths she had gone to in order to attain that vengeance for her family. Perseverance reminds us that it's not failure that is to be feared, but giving up, and that effort should always be lauded.
Words - 263 (excl. quotes)
Sources (the formatting *really* didn't work, this computer gives me a sad)
1. Our Own Druidry: An Introduction to Ar nDraiocht Fein and the Druid Path (p. 62). Tucson, Arizona: ADF Publishing.
2. (n.d.). Retrieved April 24, 2015, from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/perseverance
No comments:
Post a Comment