Patience in a High-Speed World
Patience is gradually becoming a much tougher virtue to pull off.
These days, needing to be patient generally means that someone or something failed along the way. Are we waiting for traffic? A better GPS would have been able to help us avoid the traffic and find a faster route. The best everything - the best traffic route and the best computer and the best package delivery services are all the fastest ones. If you can afford the best you don't have to wait. Patience is for the poor.
Think about it - the only thing in human history that hasn't gone through any kind of major overhaul and improvement is us! Sure, we're learning more about more about what makes us tick, and constantly finding better ways to solve our problems. But I'm not sure that humans themselves have really become any more flawless or efficient over time.
We still end up just as quirky and full of baggage and insecurities as ever. We're weak and indecisive at times, and we need patience from each other. But then here comes this ingrained reaction in us -- that if something's asking for our patience, it must mean that thing is sub-par. If something requires us to be patient, we think we deserve better.
Now, I love fast internet. And I think Minute Rice is brilliant. I even admire fast cars, though I'm kind of a nervous driver so if I owned one I would only drive it at very reasonable speeds.
But please leave a little place for patience in your heart. Leave room for patience to sometimes be a good thing, not just something to be suffered through.
Despite all of our smart inventions and innovations to make things work faster, human relationships, one the main sources of happiness in our lives, still require patience to work. Without patience, you'll end up constantly disappointed and frustrated with people you love, and afraid to ask for it when you need a little patience yourself.
- Brigitte
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Comments
Eric Jaffa Monday, March 29, 2010
RE "I think Minute Rice is brilliant"
White rice or brown rice?
Blargal Monday, March 29, 2010
Hello,Brigitte.
I also think patience helps us to wait, and think through anything we are waiting to do , or have happen. Life needs little pauses,and being patient allows us to gather our wits during the fast pace of our lives.
I think you look patient in your Fiesta...
Joe436 Monday, March 29, 2010
When I'm stuck in traffic, I play 'Patience' by Guns N Roses. The traffic usually lasts longer than the song though.
Brigitte Tuesday, March 30, 2010
@Eric both!
romeo Tuesday, March 30, 2010
the urgency seems desperate, the sense of longing -absurd, the intensity of passion, the rush of endorphins, the thrill of the chase, some kind of primal instinctual biological imperative that is not so easily gratified nor placated with satisfaction. is it fear that drives us forward? does it compel us to judge in haste? are we at odds with time and nature? is the prize worth losing our sense of dignity and grace? focus, hold fast be still and serene. look around my dear friend. life is what happens along the journey towards every destination. anything worth having that no one can take away from you is already yours while everything truly worthwhile that's worth waiting for is only to be discovered as it is realized by your presence.