Thursday, February 18, 2010

The waiting game

Having realised that my friend was waiting for me to go for lunch, I quickly ended the conversation on MSN. I was feeling hungry, too, anyway.

It was an interesting lunch cum afternoon walk date. What was supposed to be an innocent lunch date became a short discovery walk through parts of Sydney. The walk brought us two babes from Darling Harbour, to Harbourside, to Star City, to the Fish Market and back to Darling Harbour and Market City. From there, it was onwards to World Square, then to UTS, and to Central and back to World Square. Yes, all on foot.

By the time I got home, my feet were sore, thanks to shoes not made for such walking.

The walk with my friend brought up many stories. Stories of us both. Although we stem from different backgrounds, there are similarities between the two and one similarity that stood out was the issue of time.

Time. Time is a commodity most people on Earth have a hard time grasping. She thinks that people unknowingly wait for time to pass.

Why do people wait? Is waiting normally a choice or a compulsory part of existence?

When we were little, we waited for time to pass so that we could be grown-ups. Now that we have grown up, we wait for the perfect job to land in our laps. When that job has landed, we wait for more procedures and promotions. We wait for people to notice our hard work and for praises and acknowledgement. We wait.

When we were studying, we were servants of time, following the class timetable to the dot. We waited for each period to go by so that we could rush out of the school compound when the bell rang. We waited for the school holidays to arrive and eagerly anticipated any school trips or weekend getaways with friends. We waited for the day we graduate so that we could dye our hair in some outrageous colour for friends to recognise us from miles away. We waited.

When you meet someone whom you could connect with, you put in the effort to make the best impression possible and wait. Wait for a response of some sort from that person. Wait for that person to reciprocate your feelings. Wait for text messages that contain sweet nothings. Wait for phone calls that make you sleep-deprived the next day. Wait for presents on special occasions. Look forward to dates so you could hold each other close and embrace. Wait for the right time to say the right words. We wait.

But what if we choose not to wait? What if we do not get people to notice our hard work? And even if we manage to get people to notice our hard work, do we wait for the acknowledgement, that fatter paycheck? What if we do not meet that someone? Even if we manage to meet that someone, do we wait if that person wants us to wait?

To me, waiting is a choice. We lament when we are made to wait and say, "No choice, I have to wait" but do we really need to? When I wait, I think it is due to my own ill-judgements in time management and life choices. So yes, it is a choice to wait and it is our own responsibility when we are made to wait.

Like I once told a close friend, "If you wait, you'd be waiting forever. So why wait?"

Time may heal but time waits for no one. So instead of stopping to watch the tide, why not go with the flow?

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