In the fast paced life that most of us perceive and pride ourselves in our daily living, we hardly ever have the time to experience or practice “patience”. We are in the era of quick fix solutions. I would stick out my neck and claim that the way we function as a society today, we either do not care for what is happening around/within us or else want everything in a jiffy! “We want it and we want it now”– is the attitude. There is nothing wrong with that concept since pace is as important as the ability to be gentle and grounded.

The challenge arrives when we try to sprout the plant from the seed as soon as we plant it without willing to wait for nature to be able to perform its magic on the seed! We tend to act like the child who cannot go off to sleep when he knows that the morning will bring with it the Christmas booty without realising that the day can come only once the night is over and the night is for sleeping and dreaming about the goodies in store! In other words, certain things/events/conditions/activities in life call for the essential ability to wait for the Universe to process it and deliver it to us. It cannot be instant.

Wikipedia defines Patience as the state of endurance under difficult circumstances, which can mean persevering in the face of delay or provocation without becoming annoyed or upset; or exhibiting forbearance when under strain, especially when faced with longer-term difficulties. It is also used to refer to the character trait of being steadfast.

The above definition refers to difficult circumstances in life. Leave aside the difficult circumstances; even our daily routine requires us to have some level of patience. The constant honking of the vehicles on the road (as if the energy emanating from the honking itself will propel all the other vehicles out of our way and into some other dimension of the Universe!), the tight rein over the accelerators at the signals (as if we will lose Formula Race 1 ranking if our vehicle is not the first one to cross the road once the signal turns green!), the frowning faces at the local vegetable vendor’s shop (the homemakers and the office goers alike will sport this look, without exception!), the exasperated look on the face of a socialite waiting at the billing counter of a mall – all are representative of one quality in common – the “can’t wait for my turn” attitude so very prevailing at all times at all places! Why are we so impatient? Are we running out of time or commodities or services or what? I don’t know what actually drives us to feel or behave like that!

Don’t I look out for the smallest queue or get irritated when the processing of the person standing in front of me appears to be taking ages while all the other queues appear to be moving at break neck speed?? I am guilty of experiencing all of these at one time or the other and that is the reason why I am wondering as to whether this quality of “patience” is becoming a fast withering virtue and if so , why??