They say that Rome wasn't built in a day. First, prove it. Second, how is that supposed to make me feel any better?
Me: This project is taking forever.
Co-worker: Well, Rome wasn't built in a day.
Me: Great. It probably took them as long to build Rome as it is taking me to figure out this Excel spreadsheet. That makes me feel better. Sure.
Why are we comparing this to Rome, anyway? Beside the fact that I lack an abacus on my desk...It isn't as if the Romans are still thriving in a great way. I'm not aspiring to have people still discussing the fall of my report thousands of years later. Trust me, I have enough of that in modern day times.
When did this even become a common phrase to use? And how can we stop it? At one point, Ancient Rome was a bustling economic hub, I get it. But I can't fathom Odysseus throwing out "Rome wasn't built in a day..." lines when they were constructing a wooden horse.
Odysseus: You know, Epeius sure is taking his sweet time building that thing.
Athena: Come on dear, we all know Rome wasn't built in a day.
I imagine that the above dialogue never happened. However, it does make for a funny visual.
I'm pretty confident that nothing I will accomplish in this lifetime will equate to the building of Rome. Likewise, nothing will ever fall as hard in my life, either. So there's always that working in my favor.
So, the next time someone is working on something (save for building an actual city out of nothing) and you want to use the "Rome wasn't built in a day" line? Remember this. You may be correct (The jury is still out. I haven't seen the Facebook pictures to prove that it wasn't built in a day...) but it also only took one arrow to bring down Achilles.
I'm loading my bow right now. Just so you know.
