I came across something on social media the other day that gave me pause to consider how our society has become, in some ways more “I want it now,” and less understanding of the value of practicing patience in our everyday life. The item that prompted this thought has to do with a local restaurant that just opened, one that serves custom-ordered chicken sandwiches, and the complaint had to do with the time it took for the individual to get their sandwich. I mentioned this at lunch the other day, and this started a discussion, where everyone seemed to have the belief that not only are we less civil with one another in our political dialogue, we seem to be less patient in our dealings with our friends, businesses, schools and governmental bodies.
While I like getting my order from Amazon on the next day, I have no problem waiting a bit longer if there is a reason for the delay. There are a multitude of reasons why we experience delays, and it would benefit all of us if we worked to understand the reason(s) for those delays. We recently saw a new restaurant open here in Darien after what appeared to be a prolonged delay. Residents would call me at city hall to question why the delay, and I would have to tell them that originally it was a supply issue, then it became an issue of not having all the personnel they needed to operate. When they finally did open, people complimented the food, but complained about the time it took to get their food. What many did not realize is that each of their sandwiches is handcrafted and takes more time to prepare, and there is still an issue with getting additional personnel. Maybe they enjoyed their sandwich because of the time and care it took to prepare it properly.
Sometimes the cause of a delay is multifaceted, while other times the answer is quite simple. Either way, we need to understand the value of patience when dealing with others, especially those outside our personal frame of reference. As the quote states, “Patience is the calm acceptance that things can happen in a different order than the one you have in your mind,” and we can all benefit from understanding why things don’t always happen as we initially expect.