Thursday Soapbox: Getting on a Soapbox!
News 19 MarchWe invited a broad range of speakers from our staff community to speak about a topic they were passionate about.
08 July 2021
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Going in and out of lockdown over the past year, online shopping has risen in popularity.
It became important for a lot of essential purchases around the house and also many non-essential purchases too. Previously, it was easy to take a trip to the shops anytime of the day or night. Suddenly, I had to change gears to mentally think ahead and plan what was actually essential for the next couple of days. This process started out as a massive inconvenience but, eventually grew into something I began to appreciate. It became a nice detox from the instantaneous aspect of our culture. In fact, the shipping became an opportunity to practise a virtue that is a work-in-progress for me: patience.
Patience is not only waiting for something but, waiting well. In the modern world, patience can appear to be a lost virtue. When patience is lost, so many other great things go with it. Take beauty for instance. I cannot find the beautiful architecture associated with the European Renaissance period, or from examples as recent as the 20th century, in many of the contemporary buildings that are appearing around me. Instead there seems to be an emphasis on efficiency and how quickly a building is built and ready for occupancy. As a result, much of the architectural beauty is lost. Even looking within, my lack of patience leads me to neglect the beauty that is around me.
Lately, my reflections have also allowed me to see the need for a communal cultivation of this virtue naturally. I find it important to practice patience in small ways to help develop this beautiful virtue little by little. An example of a small way would be to consider taking the slower and cheaper option before clicking express shipping on your next online order to help you develop the virtue of patience in your own life.
Bio: Jake Santitto is a Student Campus Pastoral Associate at ACU’s Melbourne campus. He loves lifting heavy objects up and putting them down (also known as weight training!), taking quiet walks in nature, and drinking way too much coffee.
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