Patience is a Virtue

I’ve never been told that patience is a virtue but I’ve read the proverb in many a book. In Danish they say ‘det haster ikke mere dan de hjove’ (spelling questionable), translated it says ‘it doesn’t hasten more than it pushes’ (or shoves). Essentially it means that to rush about the highways just to get to the Tim Horten’s lineup is imbecilic. My mother would use that slogan whenever we did something silly like tear through our sewing and wreck our project, or burn something because we were rushing around doing too many things at once. In other words, I’ve heard it all my life.

In this age of “high speed internet” and microwave ovens we have forgotten the virtue of patience. Everything has become instant gratification and I don’t think it is a good thing. It’s nice to slow down and smell the roses once in a while. That’s why I take the Cayley “highway” on Saturdays when I go to High River rather than the highway. Since I drive 110 km during the work week I like the pace of 80 km on a Saturday. I don’t feel as though I am rushing about like a madwoman. I look at the farmsteads and currently at the fields swimming in water and I feel tranquil in my mind. When I first started driving to Calgary about 11 years ago I was the only vehicle on the road. The economy was still dead and no one was commuting. In the past 7 years the highway at 5 a.m. is quite busy and it still amazes me to see these nut cases speeding at 130 or 140 km just to get to work. Really, you need to be at work that early. No they aren`t rushing to work, they are rushing to the Tim Horton lineup.

Another thing I`ve noticed at work is how people like to change their minds. In the past when we had to use our typewriters to prepare a document the lawyers were a little more cautious in preparing the document so the typing wouldn`t have to be done again. Today they slap something together and change it a half a dozen (or more) times because there is now a computer with the capability of saving portions of the document. Yet my observation has been that the final document is still not a good piece of writing because it was not originally thought out properly. When I read our newspaper I literally cringe at some of the writing. One expects decent grammar in a newspaper but that doesn`t seem to happen any longer. And the jargon is appalling.

Patience is indeed a virtue. So when you say “I can`t wait” give yourself a little shake and ask yourself if that is really true. Savour the moments. When I say San Francisco here I come, I am just savouring the anticipation. It`s fun. And yes I can wait because being impatient doesn`t make the time go any faster. J

Jessie Wilcox Smith, I see me like that in a few years time.