Instant

What is patience? It is a virtue.  That is the thought that most of the Catholic students learned in the school.  Defining what patience is, is quite easy for them, it is very mechanical.  But trying to understand the “whatness” of patience is hard to decipher. 

Rev. Fr. Dominic Radecki, CMRI once said and I quote patience “is a virtue which helps us, for the love of God, to calmly bear our tribulations and preserve serenity amid the sufferings of life. Patience tempers sorrow and staves off excessive anger and complaining. Patience is the guardian of all the virtues, for there are obstacles to be encountered in any good work, and they can be overcome only by patience”. 

It is obvious here that patience is a virtue, one of the cardinal virtues, which any Christians should possess. But how can people really acquire the virtue of patience, if everybody wants an instant access.

People nowadays desire to get what they want immediately.  All the scientific investigations are used in order to speed up the natural process.  

Everybody easily get tired of waiting. They don’t want to wait for so long.  Human experiences tell us that people don’t want to wait.  

As a matter of fact, many “instant” things are ever produced. Instant noodles, and instant coffee, in order to fill up the hungry stomach are there. 

ATM’s are built to speed up banking transactions.  Mobile phones and internets are the most common means of communication nowadays. One can easily send message to their loved ones using the said stuffs.

With all these realities, it appears that the humanity is very successful in trying to speed up everything and eventually avoided the agony of waiting.  All that is said from above are just few things that one can see… people really want everything to be instant, so that in a glimpse of an eye, everything would be possible. 

However, there is no such thing as instant.  To be able to eat the instant noodles, and to drink the instant coffee, one should boil water first.  One should wait for a few minute in sending the message through the SMS or through email.  

In fact, in using computer, one has to wait in order for the computer to fully function, and so it says…loading, downloading, etc.   In trying to get cash from the ATM, one should fall in line before s/he can take his/her turn. 

There is no such thing as instant millionaire.  Even the lotto bettors have to fall in line in buying their bets.  They also need to wait.  Be patient.  That is the lesson. 

There are many individuals who want to earn instant money, so they cut the trees for profit.  And they never mind replacing them.  

As a result, the city of the rich and famous was flooded.  Indeed, there is no such thing as instant that the human beings can acquire. People must have a virtue of patience. Only the Absolute One can make it happen. 

And here it was…instant flood.