Candidates need to comment on how two things define a man: his patience when he has nothing and his attitude when he has everything.
Introduction:
The real question of life includes questions such as “Who are you?” How are you defined and how do you define yourself? t’s hard to know in the quiet times. It is only when things get rough that we really find out who we are and of what we are made. The quote given above singles out two specific situations for consideration.
Two things define you: your patience when you have nothing and your attitude
when you have everything
Two things define you. The first is how patient you can be when you have nothing. When you have nothing, you will, obviously, have quite a few needs.
How patiently can you wait for that which you need? Can you, or do you get agitated and make a fuss?
The second situation in the quote is what your attitude is when you have everything. When you have everything, you need nothing, and by extension, no one.
This is a test of how you treat people when you don’t have any need to be kind or helpful. Will you be nice, or will you be an obnoxious (something)?
These two situations help mark the boundaries within which you reside. We have all had situations where we had a great need.
That was a test of who you were at that point in time. The same for the times when we had all we needed (for that moment, and in that aspect of our lives.
By keeping track of how we respond in trying situations, we can better judge where we need to improve ourselves. Remember, tests, even the ones at school, aren’t there to tell you that you are a failure. They exist to test you and find out what you know.
If you use tests as they were intended and measure your progress and probe for weaknesses, you can continue to grow and become better at whatever the test is measuring.
Without tests, we would never know. How patient is you? How kind are you? Both in the easy times and in the trying times. How else can you measure yourself? How would you define yourself? How would you measure that aspect of your life?
Once you have been tested, all you have to do is figure out what went right and what needs improvement.
Conclusion:
Testing in your mind is one tool, but you will need real tests from time to time, as you can get some unexpected results. You may find under stress; you don’t behave exactly as you thought you might. Emotions can do that to a person. Even if you don’t do anything with the information, life is always testing you. You might want to take advantage of this information and plan your next step. We all have things we want to improve, or at least know that we should improve. Why not give it a try?
