A Long Time Coming

Patience is a virtue

Time will tell

Good things come to those who wait

Proverbs and aphorisms guide us to be calm as we persist on a given task. In modern times, when we expect answers at the swipe of a screen, I find it difficult to wait for the results I seek, but last week, I witnessed a real-life example of the virtue in dogged persistence: the Panama Canal.

Our cruise took us from Miami on the Atlantic Ocean to the Caribbean Sea, then through the amazing locks of the Panama Canal, which have taken one hundred and fifty-four years to build. Yes, it’s true that the majority of the work was done in 1870 through 1914, but since then the lock system has been expanded to accommodate oversized container ships. A brand new section with an advanced system for raising and lowering boats, is presently welcoming thousands of container ships every year. 

A century and a half ago when the French began the project, beaten back by yellow fever and malaria, onlookers probably figured the canal would never be built. Yet when the Americans stepped in, first ridding the area of mosquitos, the work continued in earnest. David McCullough tells the whole story in The Path Between the Seas: The Creation of the Panama Canal, 1870-1914. The book is a must-read, not only to learn about the locks, but to witness a ‘persistence’ journey.

I take to heart and learn from the Panama Canal story as well as from the lengthy journeys of scientists to find cures for diseases or engineers to fashion the Hubble or James Webb Space Telescope. DNA, DNA, and immunotherapy are common terms today, but decades of research are behind their discoveries.

I began writing novels in 2000; was published in 2011; published 12 novels by 2022. My ‘number’ goal is to leave a legacy of twenty novels behind me. My more abstract goal: for every novel I write be an improvement over the last one. The Panama Canal story has taught me to be patient, but persist.