Patience is a virtue; impatience is a vice

Driving home from visiting my grandparents in Santa Rosa usually takes an hour and 20 minutes. Two traffic jams caused the trip to take two hours and ten minutes the last time I visited. Stuck in the second wave of traffic, I wanted nothing more than to have my dad drive on the sidewalk in order for me to get home quicker and be able to hang out with my friends.

We tried to get off the freeway, but all the drivers seemed to have that same idea. Frustrated, I realized my hope of going to the Ice Creamery with my friends was dwindling. I settled on trying to find a pro to my situation when I realized that this was a lesson in patience, and all the people in traffic were experiencing it too.

We all endure impatience often, especially since our phones can travel the Internet in lightning seconds. Whether it’s waiting in line for your turn, or for something to happen, we have a choice to take it well or impatiently.

I have observed and experienced being impatient many times. A feeling that comes with this is the feeling that you are the only one that matters. All other reasons and feelings the other waiters have become obsolete. You’re the only one who matters. The problem with this type of thinking is that once everyone feels this way, there is a lot of aggression for people to get what they want without caring about how others feel.

I see this being a passenger in a car. Drivers will dangerously cut others off to get as quickly as they can to their destination. At restaurants and other services, people become easily irritable if not attended to quickly enough.

People need to become more respectful and aware of others in their same situation.

Waiting and becoming frustrated causes stress. In these situations people need to tell themselves that they cannot change their problem, and they just need to make the best of waiting. This could help reduce stress and aggressiveness.

Who knows, when standing in line, striking up a conversation with the stranger next to you can change the state of mind of both the stranger and yourself.