On either side of the imposing
steps of the New York City Library on Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street
are two marble lions. The names of the lions, I recently learned from watching
Jeopardy!, are Patience and Fortitude.
Those seem to be odd attributes for
protectors of education, so I went to the library’s
website. Their nicknames have changed over
the decades. According to the library:
“First they were
called Leo Astor and Leo Lenox, after The New York Public Library founders John
Jacob Astor and James Lenox. Later, they were known as Lady Astor and Lord
Lenox (even though they are both male lions). During the 1930s, Mayor Fiorello
LaGuardia named them Patience and Fortitude, for the qualities he felt New
Yorkers would need to survive the economic depression. These names have stood
the test of time: Patience still guards the south side of the Library's steps
and Fortitude sits unwaveringly to the north.”
In our dining room we have a
watercolor painting of the library by Ron
Lent, a gifted New
Patience and Fortitude. Over the
past week I went through the backlog of emails in my personal account. It would
be an understatement to say I haven’t practiced sound computer storage hygiene.
My emails dated back to 2009 and numbered more than 22,000.
Clearing out my inbox was a
grueling task that I did in blocks of a few thousand emails at a sitting. I
wanted to keep those that had special meaning to me, so I didn’t just do mass
deletes. I would go through a page showing 50 emails and spend a few seconds
scanning to see if any were worth saving. Most, of course, were not.
What was striking to me was the
thousands and thousands of emails relating to my job searches through the
years.
Over the past decade I had a run of
being unemployed for long stretches of time. Dark times they were, for me and
my family. My
job-search experience was an exercise in patience and fortitude. I submitted
hundreds of applications, went to dozens of interviews, came damned close
several times to landing a job, only to be told, “We just decided to go in a
different direction.” I took jobs selling cars and as a host at a friend’s
restaurant to pay the bills and stay sane. Donna took a job that provided
health benefits.
I was close to losing hope when I got
an email out of the blue from a headhunter who had come across my LinkedIn
page. He had a position for a communications manager at a large Baltimore-based
competitive energy company. I went through what turned into a months-long
hiring process, but two weeks before my father passed away, I started a new
job.
It was a six-month contractor
position, with no benefits, no paid time off, none of the perks that employees
take for granted. I was able to see in, but I wasn’t allowed to be in. But it
was a foot in the door.
That six-month contract got extended
once, twice, and again. Finally, last November, after three years as a
contractor, I was onboarded as a regular, full-time employee, with all the
benefits I had been without for so many years.
It took more patience than is natural
for me, and all the fortitude I could muster, to hang on, to keep my chin up,
to stay focused on doing good work and staying positive. But it ultimately paid
off.
The Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea, are just starting. The Olympics
– Winter or Summer – inspire me. The sacrifice and commitment of the athletes
who are competing at the highest level, on the biggest stage, are worthy of
admiration.
Those athletes, and those who compete in the Paralympics and
Special Olympics, are far more intimate with the concept of patience and
fortitude than I will ever be.
So let’s tip our hats, or our glasses,
to them, and wish them well.
Let the games begin!
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