To be a good angler you need patience. In fact, in order to not quit fishing the first day out when you realize just how boring fishing can be, you need patience. Fishing is often frustratingly unproductive. The name itself says it all, most of the time, when fishing, you are not actually catching fish you are just fishing. And fishing is repetitive. You cast out and you reel in, hoping that there’s a fish nearby and it likes what you have to offer. Cast out and reel in. Cast out and reel in. Cast out and reel in. To enjoy fishing you need to learn to love the process, not be in it for just the product. That’s not to say that the product, catching a fish, doesn’t matter, it does, it’s just that arriving at the moment when a fish is on your line and you are reeling it in, may take a long, long time. But with enough patience, the moment will come: the fish will be biting, one will grab hold of your lure, your rod will double and you will experience the heart-pounding thrill of catching a fish, and perhaps even the pleasure of eating one too. But without practicing patience, this will never happen.
I remember once asking Dread Scott, a committed activist artist who, like me, was then approaching middle age, how he kept the faith that his work was going to have an impact. In response, he said: “I like cycling. If you’re a great bike rider and you’re riding in the Tour de France, and you happened to be riding in the seven years that Lance Armstrong is riding, you’re probably not going to win. Even if you’re a great cyclist. It’s just the balance of things didn’t work in your favor.” For most of my activist life, the balance of things has not been in my favor. For nearly forty years I have been going to meetings and planning actions. I work with amazing people on righteous causes, but those with more money and power continually seem to win. Yet I, and countless other activists, keep doing the seemingly unproductive and repetitive labor of activism. Why? Because, as Dread went on to say, it’s about waiting for what happens in that eighth year when Armstrong is not in the Tour de France (or as it turns out, gets banned from cycling for cheating). There are moments when the balance of things is in our favor, when historical alignments are in the right position, and we do win. Then the world changes, even if only a little. Waiting for those moments takes patience and when they come you need to have kept up your training.