Patience

My friend Tim was told by a golf pro--'Tim, the problem with you is you want success and you want it right now.' To which Tim responded, 'And...that's wrong?' Twenty one years later, Tim might be just as bewildered by the observation.

For me, declining life's invitations to wait was not always a key to success but it got me right where I am today and this is where I should be. Knowing what I know and learning what I learned from the life classes I chose, I am aware of the opportunities in patience. Today I am open to hearing what I can only hear with a patient mind.

Waiting for a person today left me with an opportunity to breathe and think about how it feels to be where I was sitting. My mind went to places it likes to go. I didn't join. I brought the fellow back into my coconut. 'Wait there until I need you.' With the patience of a 3 year old, my mind trotted out of the warm and mushy confines again....Impatiently, 'Hey, let's be a dick. Let's make this person sorry. Let's say something toxic. Sarcasm. Come on!!Sarcasm. Use it!!'
With patience, 'Sit. Be quiet.' The eventual visit was worth the wait.

Later, I walked into a candidate debate. I carried patience. The environment is toxic by nature and this was no debate. The candidates are called opponents. It's a debate because they have different opinions. Opponent. Opinion. Any Greeks see similarities in these words? This event was an accusation. The challenger used a hefty dose of passive aggressiveness to accuse the incumbent. 'Murder and neglect,' she whispered louldly between the lines of her prepared statements to each question.

How do you debate those opinions? " Um,I disagree. Twice."

The two people were my teachers today. I watched the incumbant not jump over the moderator and slap her accuser. Patience was just one of her virtues. Grace was another. I was impressed. The accuser showed me how I am capable of sounding and looking with ill-will in my head, and stupid on my lips. I don't have enough days in my life to be that hurtful.

I see I was not there to listen to a debate. I was there to see myself as I am capable of being. Virtuous, or sinful.

Twenty one years after that golf lesson, Tim is a much better golfer than me. He took more lessons, practiced, and played the game of golf. I left my game in the hands of time. Time does not heal all wounds of golf.

I will practice patience.