Patience — By Tommy Purser
Elbert Green Hubbard (1856-1915) was a man widely known for his many publications including one of his most remarkable, “Little Journeys to the Homes of the Great.”
He and his second wife, Alice Moore Hubbard, died aboard the RMS Lusitania when it was sunk by a German submarine off the coast of Ireland on May 7, 1915.
One of his many, oft-repeated quotes was about patience:
“How many a man has thrown up his hands at a time when a little more effort, a little more patience would have achieved success.”
That quote came to mind this week as I sat down with our Sheriff, Preston Bohannon, to talk about our now-under-construction law enforcement center. Preston and the Jeff Davis County Board of Commissioners have exhibited commendable patience over the past eight years. Eight long years they have saved up money, planned, thought, considered, sought guidance, pondered and waited. Waited patiently.
Eight — long — years.
And now, their grasp of an elusive success is but months away.
Spirits were high last week as the Sheriff, his deputies, the County Commissioners, the courthouse crowd, other law enforcement folks, friends and family gathered for the official ground-breaking ceremony for the new law enforcement center.
This construction project is only a step — not the first step but a step — toward meeting inevitable state requirements that the county must have a detention center that meets in the state government’s requirements.
The Sheriff and the Commissioners showed patience — there’s that word again — in waiting to build up enough proceeds from the voter-approved Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax to begin the initial phase of what will undoubtedly be a years-long process. Years long, that is, on top of the eight years already spent planning and waiting.
They could have rushed out and impatiently borrowed the money, which taxpayers would have to pay back — that plus interest. But, instead, they did the prudent thing. The patient thing.
I trust, with continued patience, everything will go well.
