Trumps as in outshines. Patience trumps impatience. Or does it? Not always, is my guess. Impatience does get results some of the time.

Take us for example, the us here being the L&M and me. I am patient to a fault and he is the impatient one. If we are at the doctor’s he is impatient for our turn to come up whereas I sit there patiently awaiting my turn. That has its drawback though, the waiting patiently, I mean. Sometimes the girls at the nurse’s station might misplace your file, or start piling ones that came later on top of ours. This means interminable delay for our names to be called.

Yes, we have a shitty system where the time of your appointment has absolutely no meaning except in one or two select clinics/hospitals. This also means the patient patients like me suffer. When the L&M is around he jumps up every two seconds (or so it seems to me) and checks the file is where it should be and not been dumped in some godforsaken hole and forgotten. He keeps a hawk’s eye on proceedings. What’s more, he checks with the nurses every few seconds (or so it seems to me) too.

It is probable that they roll their eyes when they see him coming, but his impatience certainly has its advantages. Our file never gets neglected and we get to see the doctor reasonably on time. Imagine if it had been just patient me sitting there patiently waiting for my turn! I’d probably be the last one to be called that day. Or may be not at all.

But…

Patience pays off in other circumstances. Like when there is a traffic jam and you are in the middle of it. Impatience is not going to get you anywhere faster, nor does honking every few seconds. It only results in unnecessary cacophony and an assault on the eardrums. Not to mention the stress on your system overall.

Being patient stops you from making a fool of yourself, also shooting off your mouth without thinking and later having to eat your own words. It also prevents your blood pressure from shooting up, keeps you calm and in control in most situations. What’s more, you get to look cool and collected too, as if you have no care in the world, certainly not all flustered, red in face and sweaty. The icing on the cake is that it gives you reasonable opportunities, if you so wish that is, to say, ‘I told you so!’ to some people.

Patience comes in extra handy where things are not in your control. On the other hand a little impatience does help where you need to push things along to get it going.

©️ Shail Mohan 2024