DIDACTIC FROM THE PRINTING WORLD – THE VIRTUES NEEDED

Before coming into the printing world, I thought I was a man of patience; or at least I thought I had little bit of patience that can see me through the daily experiences of life. However, as I was introduced properly into the world of printing, little did I know that my patience was out for a real litmus test; it wasn’t long before I realized that the patience I thought I had, needed great polishing and development.

Growing up as a young lad, I used to hear my father talking about what it takes to be a great man, and all it takes to make a man leave a mark on the sand of time, I am sure you can relate with this father – child(dren) upbringing moments. As time goes by, I soon came to understand with age, knowledge and experience that what my Dad was trying to say was, to be great, you must be a man of virtues. True, a man is not more that his or her virtues.

 It’s almost a year now that I have been into the printing world, and I can say with all surety that there is some virtues one need to survive and succeed in the printing world. Just like the processes I shared in the last piece, highlighting how important it is to follow all the due processes to achieve a finished product, so is the virtues. Succinctly, without these virtues, you can only occupy the back bench in the printing world.

The first virtue I saw glaringly in the printing world is “Doggedness”. The first time I heard about this word was in my 100 Level, where I was told that one of the virtues of a good journalist is doggedness; however, I met this word practically in the printing world. To be dogged is to be determined, is to continue without giving up in spite of all odds. To survive therefore in the printing world, if you are not dogged, you will find yourself backing and packing out without even knowing.

Doggedness can be seen as the vehicle, but patience is the fuel. To be honest with you, I would have given up and walk away from the printing world, but I realized that I am here to polish my patience for greater exploits in life. In printing, you will meet different kind of clients, sometimes they will fail you in terms of payment, sometimes you will fail them and not deliver on time, and sometimes even your fellow printers will fail to meet up with the time you gave them to finish packaging your work; without patience, you may likely have a heart attack form all these.

These are just two among many other virtues needed to excel in the printing world. Others which are equally important and needful are seeing beyond the obvious, sincerity, keeping to your word, creativity, team work, humility and large-heartedness. These may not be the all-inclusive virtues needed, but from experience and what I have seen sustaining my Boss in the printing world hitherto, they can and will suffice.

Life is no different from printing in this aspect, without the needful virtues, one can only foot drag through life and not get the best out of it. Borrowing a leave from the printing world and how those virtues applied, I can say that a life without a single virtue is a lost cause. Can you take a quick introspective look of your life and see how your life would have been without an iota of virtue? Truth be told, virtues are the recipes that lead us to serving the world a great meal of greatness. You cannot have everything in life, and that’s not too bad; but once you don’t have virtues, your life becomes an issue, and that is too bad. *

The second book of Peter chapter 1 verses 5 through 8 captured this beautifully: “For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love.  For if you possess these qualities (virtues) in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ”.

To wrap this piece more practically now, how can you get through the day and life entirely without being a man or woman of virtues? How can you write your name in gold on the tablet of people’s heart if not through the virtues in you? Inducing from those verses above, virtues can be learned, cultivated and developed; look inward, assess your life, though I anchored these series on the printing world, but it is beyond that. A life that doesn’t operate with virtues that affect other people’s lives through service cannot in any way fulfill destiny and purpose.

Thank You

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