“I no longer have patience for certain things, not because I’ve become arrogant, but simply because I reached a point in my life where I do not want to waste more time with what displeases me or hurts me. I have no patience for cynicism, excessive criticism and demands of any nature. I lost the will to please those who do not like me, to love those who do not love me and to smile at those who do not want to smile at me.
I no longer spend a single minute on those who lie or want to manipulate. I decided not to coexist anymore with pretense, hypocrisy, dishonesty and cheap praise. I do not tolerate selective erudition nor academic arrogance. I do not adjust either to popular gossiping. I hate conflict and comparisons. I believe in a world of opposites and that’s why I avoid people with rigid and inflexible personalities. In friendship I dislike the lack of loyalty and betrayal. I do not get along with those who do not know how to give a compliment or a word of encouragement. Exaggerations bore me and I have difficulty accepting those who do not like animals. And on top of everything I have no patience for anyone who does not deserve my patience.” (seen on the internet and attributed to Meryl Streep)
If this truly is from Meryl Streep, it makes me wonder what she DOES have time and patience for……….If we cut everyone out of our lives that fit some part or another of this description or, similarly if others cut out everyone who fit some part or another of this description, we’d all be a very lonely bunch of people. I particularly wonder about the “…no patience for…demands of any nature.” Wow, I don’t know about you all, but I find demands made upon me all the time. And, similarly, I must make demands upon others from time to time. I try to do it in a way that does not burden, but with gratitude for the help that is given. I do agree that there are some people and situations that we need to be discerning about and may not need to give ourselves over to their manipulations and people-using ways. But if we cannot give sacrificially of ourselves….at least to some people or in some situations….then we are the poorer for it.
We love because we were loved first. Likewise, we have patience when we recognize how much patience God has with us.
Some research reveals that the quote is actually from Portuguese self-help author/life coach José Micard Teixeira, whom Streep apparently made a reference to at some point. Wherever it came from, I still find it somewhat sad and dismissive of others from one’s life.