Patience

Patience

I was reading an article in a magazine, Scientific American on evolution of man. According to fossil records, finger nails evolved 54 million years ago (“mya”), thumb 25 mya, upright pelvis and knee appeared more than 3.5mya and the brain ballooned in size only between 1-2mya.

I was amazed to read these facts and what suddenly dawned on me was that it took the Creator many million years to get this current construct of man as we see today. He too went through several trails and errors and changed the model as time went along. Man did not evolve over night or in a matter of just few days. It took several years of patience and effort and above all learning to get here.

In our day to day life, we want everything completed to perfection – now or rather as of yesterday. In the corporate world, there is a classic expectation -- whenever you inquire about the deadline on any assignment; it is invariably as of yesterday. This of course means constant stress to meet a deadline. No doubt it pushes your limits and testes your potential to tolerate pressure. However, the level of agitation in the environment is also rather high and so is the cost to the health of the individual.

People want to grow over night into mammoth conglomerates. Entrepreneurs’ push themselves against time barriers to give shape to their dream. However, has anyone considered what it does to the efficiency and creativity of the people? You can of course churn out items of mass production but can you really be as creative if you are constantly working against time.

What I see today is this Rush to get here, get there, finish this or that. Even on the roads the horns are blaring because no one wants to wait for another or give right of way. It’s a Race!

The biggest fairness of life is that everyone has been given 24 hours in a day. It’s up to us what we do with those hours and that’s what makes all the difference. Some use their time effectively and productively, whereas others fritter this precious commodity. “Time and tide wait for no man.” Time never goes backwards. Time does not wait for anyone, time does not distinguish between one person and another and you cannot move it faster or slower.

When my boys were infants, they both got their first tooth close to the age of one year. As a new anxious mother, I would visit websites, call the pediatrician, check their mouths regularly. One day the doctor simply responded if I had ever seen any child who didn’t finally get his teeth. I just had to patient.

Just like we have to give time for nature to take its own course, similarly in other matters of life also we need to sometime give time for things to unravel. If everything was always known, would you truly enjoy life?