One should consider patience a virtue in oneself, and not require it in another. This makes congratulating somebody for patience of doubtful service.

Patience is often conflated with passivity. It is not helpful to congratulate passivity.

In some cases, times, and in some people, patience is equivalent to great discipline. One is in control of emotions and acts as she chooses, and can not be provoked into violence or foolish moves. One considers actions carefully, and practices, by habit, a form of mental discipline and self control to act when needed and to act as the situation calls for. This is patience as a discpline — a nonviolent discipline.

Kurt Shock’s quote above is relevant in comparing — as Shock admits, country cases can not be strictly compared apples to apples, except to ask questions about important differences — is that people can disruptively help change when they are in mass and in synch and in action behind change, as in Philippines. It goes with the direction of the political change selected at the ballot box. If people are not behnd their selected vote with action, it may be possible to subvert their will, as in Burma. Burma’s misatrributed patience was passivity. Victory was not enforced. Perhaps you selected the passage to suggest that widespread action of ordinary people, of voters, is needed to defend the electoral will of the people.