Friday, October 21, 2005
Waitng is the Hardest Part
Time is the space in which we live. Everything happens in time, and nothing happens outside of time. We talk of wasting time, not having enough, and using too much time. In this mix of craziness, in trying to find enough time, there is waiting. Despite not having enough times, there are things that we say we cannot wait for. There is too much time between now and then. In some instances, waiting can just create impatience. There is too much time, and there should be less. However, for more important things than waiting in line, waiting produces anticipation. In waiting for important things, we have time to think about them. Waiting is an act which is not so much tied in with a lack of action, but it is better linked with the process of thought.
About this specific quote from Henri Nouwen, I don’t like it. It’s a very bad explanation of what waiting is. First he refers to it in reference to time, then later in reference to place. Especially, however, I don’t like that he attributes difficulty waiting to fear! This makes absolutely no sense at all. Waiting implies that you voluntarily want something to happen, and you are willing to let it happen in its own timeframe.
Maybe he’s trying to make a cultural connection about how waiting can cause fear. Quite like waiting for a shot from a doctor, waiting makes us second guess ourselves. This anticipation of something bad can induce fear; not the other way around. When he says fear causes difficulty in waiting, he is doing a bad job trying to equate impatience with anxiety. He doesn’t pick his battles about which is the more important to address.