Where are you going in such
a hurry? That is the question I keep asking myself anytime someone walks past
me on the pedestrian bridge. Those who use the bridge (yes, there are some
folks who believe it is too much work) know that it is just wide enough to
accommodate two people, in opposite directions. It seems some individuals
always have emergencies, and do not have time to wait a couple of seconds.
If the above is a bit
vague, why do we rev our engines when we have seen that there is a traffic
light ahead and its is already on amber, a precursor to the dreaded red light?
Why do we become aggressive when we see a learner driving in front of us in
traffic? Why do we honk our horns when the car ahead of us does not start in
time when the light goes green?
The truth is that we do not
know exactly why we are impatient, there is nothing really that our impatience
does to speed up the process (especially when it is caused by others).
Sometimes, our impatience brings out our irrational self and we do or say
things we would not have said or done under normal circumstances.
Next time you are impatient
and bordering on getting overly worked up over nothing, ask yourself this
question “by the end of today, would this few seconds, minutes really matter”
and if you are honest with yourself, the answer will most likely be no, more
often than not. The fact that we are not in control, even for the briefest of
seconds or minutes scares the living daylight out of us all.
We need to learn however,
that we are not really in control of anything. Our lives are interconnected in
ways we cannot begin to fathom or calculate, hence, it makes more sense to live
each day to the fullest, making allowances for the frailty of the human race. This
will help us live free of the baggage of holding grudges, prejudices, envy,
strife and lots of other negative emotions.
Life is short, don’t spend
it mad and angry at everybody else, because, face it, humans will never measure
up to your expectations. We will always fall short of your ideals, so, suck it
up and make the best of today. Those who are terminally sick and near death
wish they could have even a fraction of the time and freedom you have, do not
take that for granted by being in a hurry, thereby throwing caution to the
wind.
Someone said to me a while
back, after we both witnessed a reckless motorcycle rider do something reserved
for the movies; I said “it seems this guy has a spare life at home, hence his
recklessness”, he answered and said “won’t he have to go home to pick up the
spare, if this one expires as a result of his stupidity?”
One more scenario, have you
found yourself tapping your feet while on a queue? It doesn’t have any direct
impact on the queue, but it does on us, I suppose. We are letting out our
pent-up anxiety, frustration, impatience et al by tapping away, or fiddling
with our phone, or engage in daydreaming to while away the time until it
reaches our turn.
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