Time and tide...

It seems to me that we spend much of our time waiting.  We wait for the bus, or for dinner, or for a favourite tv show, or... well... almost anything.  For the most part, waiting is something that is peculiar to humans; in fact, I think that we have almost turned waiting into an art form.  Some people are far better at waiting than others.  They use the time to do other things, and honestly technology has been, and is an integral tool that allows us to make better use of this time between.  I used to use my pda to pass the time, but then I bought a BlackBerry and that became my technological tool for making the time pass more efficiently while I was waiting.  The truth, in my opinion, is that a lot more work gets done during waiting time now, in this era of technological progress, than in any period before. 

Having said all that, I believe that we live in a culture of convenience.  This means that we organize, produce, and create ways to make our lives easier, and quicker.  I remember when it became possible to order pizza from the internet, and when stores started staying open 24/7.  We can do almost anything at any time.  The fact that we have worked so hard to make everything convenient has lead to convenience becoming inconvenient.

That's a paradox you may say, but the truth of it is if waiting time is the time where much of what we do is done, then by increasing those things that are convenient, we are becoming less efficient.  For example, how many conversations take place when people are at a restaurant waiting for their meals to come?  How often do we chat with strangers around us who are also waiting, and thereby a new friendship or contact is made?  We complain about waiting, but is it really all that bad for us?

There are things that we can choose to wait for, and there are things we cannot; however, having said that it's what we do with the time that is passing while we wait that makes a lot of difference.  I for one have complained about waiting, but like our hearts, we need to rest between beats.  We need to take advantage of what comes to us during this minor period of down time, even if it is time that we use for work or whatnot.  Remember, time and tide wait for no man... it must be lonely being that far ahead and all alone...