Once upon a time long ago,
you had to turn on the TV set well before your show started
so there would be time enough for the tubes to warm up.
I see people today pacing impatiently, even a little upset
that the microwave popcorn is taking so long.
Or do you ever tap your fingers impatiently
waiting for your computer,
and frustrated over all those wasted milliseconds?
Culturally we’ve come to expect and demand instantaneous results,
for things to finish quickly - complete in the immediate,
and a rushing impatience characterizes our mode of living.
That pernicious impatience seems to pervade our whole lives
placing our focus on the now, the urgent and immediate;
and so we are unwilling and unaccustomed to waiting
for things to fully develop or to consider the longer view.
The problem with that impatient
...