We Did Not Know What Was Coming Series: What Does Persistence Look Like?

PREFACE: To say the last seven years have been a journey of growth for me and this country is an understatement. To help me process and cope with the roller-coaster of emotions I have felt these years, I started writing on Medium right after the 2016 election. My last series ended December 31, 2020, after Biden won the presidential election.

Recently I realized I missed writing “in my journal” and decided to go back to the very beginning and re-read my essays. I wanted to see where I started out on November 9, 2016, and where I am now. I decided to repost my favorite blogs with a short present-day commentary and continue onto current times.

I hope a few of you will join me on this journey of recollection, reflection, and learning. Little did we know what we were headed into.

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What Does Persistence Look Like? March 3, 2017

Trump has been in office 43 days. I heard a Democratic Member of Congress say last night it feels like 400 days. I agree with him. Increasingly I feel exhausted at the end of the day. Yes, my professional life is busy. Yes, I am involved in many small acts of activism throughout the day. Yes, I see friends and carry on the normal activities of life. And yes, I am just getting a bit older — loathe that I am to admit that. But this fatigue feels different.

I contrast this with the energy level of one of my new heroes, Representative Jerrold Nadler. Nadler is an attorney and politician who serves as the U.S. Representative for New York’s 10th congressional district. He is a member of the Democratic Party, is sixty-nine years old and boy does he love to tweet.

On February 9, 2017, Mr. Nadler, who is the ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, filed a “Resolution of Inquiry”. If passed the inquiry would allow the Judiciary Committee to investigate Flynn/Trump/Russia misconduct including a review of Trump’s taxes. Two days ago the resolution was defeated. Eighteen Republicans members of the Judiciary Committee voted against the measure; sixteen Democrats voted for the inquiry; six Republicans voted present.

I was crushed, for in that moment I believed once the resolution was defeated that was it. Well happily I was wrong. Minutes after the vote, Representative Nadler jumped on his electronics and pounded out the following tweets:

· “Fact: we can file Resolutions of Inquiry in all committees & get any MoC who won’t protect the truth & the Constitution on Record. #resist”

· “Don’t despair! We did it! We got them #ontherecord w/our #Resolutionofinquiry. And we will just keep it coming at them. Over and over.”

· “Comm GOP members. 18–16. We’ll just keep making them take this on. Over & over.”

My heart lifted with his message, his enthusiasm, commitment, and demonstration of persistence. I immediately sent him a thank you postcard with ‘# Nevertheless, She Persisted’ printed on the front. As I was writing I wondered how in the maelstrom and chaos and overwhelm of Washington D.C. could he persist? Then the real truth hit me; I was wondering if I could persist.

I sat with that sadness for a few days and then decided to look up the meaning of persistence. Persistence is defined as: the continued or prolonged existence of something; often a course of action despite difficulty or opposition; the quality that allows someone to continue doing something or trying to do something even though it is difficult or opposed by other people; tenacity; endurance; ceaselessness; durability.

I think Representative Nadler has every one of those qualities. I was struck though that the word persistence seemed to be an end state of being. I wondered what traits, behaviors, beliefs needed to be in place to reach this end state. Once again the internet has lots of research on such things so I started googling.

I was delighted to find an article that “named” traits of persistence. Author Dean Yeong wrote, “The 10 Traits of Mentally Strong People” for Quora. Normally I pass on any article with a number in the title, but my God Spark gave me a nudge to open the piece. I am glad I did.

Yeong states that mental strength/toughness (persistence) is not something we are born with but is a state of being we can learn. After studying examples of successful people and top performers he identified the ten traits they had in common: http://www.medicaldaily.com/10-key-traits-mentally-strong-people-self-awareness-delayed-gratification-408001

They are:

· Delayed gratification. When people fail it is often because they give up too quickly. They are overwhelmed by challenges that come up or conversely give into temptations that may divert them. Mentally strong people understand how to work hard and contribute all they have now — in the moment — before they even think about returns.

· Embrace constraints. Strong people embrace constraints and learn how to work within them. Strong people embrace failures. Mentally strong people embrace imperfections. They expect these challenges and embrace them as trials to be solved and worked through.

· Never seek permission. Strong people take personal responsibility very seriously. They own themselves; they do not seek permission; they make their own way. If they make mistakes or hit a roadblock, they take responsibility for it and move forward. They understand the only thing they can truly control is their own state of mind and thus their next action step.

· Focus on the fundamentals. Strong people start with the fundamentals. They focus on the thing that matters the most. This helps eliminate distractions and cuts through the noise.

· Consistency. Mentally strong people are not necessarily born with this perspective, but they learned it along the way. They know success doesn’t come in a day or two; rather it comes with the power of consistency. They take tiny action steps, infinite numbers of baby steps continuously day in and day out. They focus on progress.

· Self-awareness. Strong people figure out their vision and purpose. They define their own identity. They know their strengths and weaknesses, their roles, their position, and goals. People who are self-aware are stronger mentally because they know who they are within every circumstance.

· Sees things as they really are. Mentally strong people never create stories for themselves. The ability to see a thing as it really is requires practice. To be mentally strong, one must stop telling themselves the stories that make them comfortable. Strong people accept the reality before them and then take action to fight against any adversity and celebrate every victory.

· Optimism. Mentally strong people have hope. If there is no hope, there is no action and thus, no results. Mentally strong people believe in themselves and their cause. They also have faith. Without this failure is certain.

· Embrace uncertainty. Most people want certainty and safety. Most people want to be able to predict the future. That is simply not possible; there will always be uncertainty. Mentally strong people embrace that reality — they do not flee from it or lament about it.

· Willingness to learn and expand. Curiosity and the willingness to figure things out make people stronger mentally. Mentally strong people read, experiment, learn, and reflect. Successful people never stop learning. In fact they often learn the most from a defeat, and that’s exactly what makes them stronger.

I have been sitting with Yeong’s article for a few days. I need to sit with it even more. I appreciate his “naming” specific traits, perspectives, beliefs and behaviors that I can really ponder. I understand how with these traits bundled together one could persist in a cause, movement, project, relationship — anything really. I see where I am strong in some places and where I am tender and vulnerable in others. I am relieved to have a diagnostic of sorts. It helps explain my fear that I might not have what it takes to persist in this chaotic political storm. I actually feel hopeful that I can. It also helps me look around and see others who persist. I appreciate them all; I am grateful for them all.

Which brings me back to Representative Nadler — though I only know the public persona of this man, I like what I see. I believe he personifies persistence in seeking to bring political truth and justice to the fore and I get a kick out of his tweeting. I will continue on my own path of activism but will check his messages before I go to bed and when I get up in the morning to be inspired. I may even check in with him during a particularly tough day. I need to see role models of persistence in action — perhaps we all do. Thank you, Representative Nadler.

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Commentary: December 03, 2023

I went to Annapolis, Maryland for the weekend. While there I came across a memorial honoring Justice Thurgood Marshall. It was incredibly moving. When I got home, I did some research on Judge Marshal. I found:

· Thoroughgood “Thurgood” Marshall (July 2, 1908 — January 24, 1993) was an American civil rights lawyer and jurist who served as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1967 until 1991.

· He was the Supreme Court’s first African-American justice.

· Prior to his judicial service, he was an attorney who fought for civil rights, founding and leading the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund from 1940–1961.

· Marshall was a prominent figure in the movement to end racial segregation in American public schools. He won 29 of the 32 civil rights cases he argued before the Supreme Court, culminating in the Court’s landmark 1954 decision in Brown v. Board of Education, which rejected the separate but equal doctrine and held segregation in public education to be unconstitutional.

·In 1961, President Kennedy nominated Marshall to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit in which he wrote 112 opinions, none of which were overturned on appeal.

· Four years later, he was appointed by President Johnson to be Solicitor General.

· President Lyndon B. Johnson appointed Marshall to the Supreme Court in 1967. Marshall remained on the Supreme Court for nearly twenty-four years, serving until his retirement in 1991.

· Justice Marshall died January 24, 1993, at the age of 84.

· A staunch liberal, Justice Marshall frequently dissented as the Court became increasingly conservative particularly in cases regarding racial discrimination.

· A 1999 survey of black political scientists listed Marshall as one of the ten greatest African American leaders in history; panelists described him as the “greatest jurist of the twentieth century” and stated that he “spearheaded the creation of the legal foundations of the civil rights movement.

If I ever need to look for a role model in persistence, I need remember Justice Thurgood Marshall. Thank you, sir.