So pa

Patience is an element that every individual from all walks of life possesses or more commonly lacks. Forbearance is a necessity amongst interactions with other people and during the complex processes of reconstructing the self. Descriptions of people with impatient traits generally paint a negative image of the person; descriptions like: “he’s type A” and “she acts just like a bull in a china closet.” It is very evident that patience is a needed ingredient in creating a warm and loving community.
I picture the New Jersey turnpike whenever I hear the word “impatient” because there seems to always be a moment where there is a motorist among the many in one of the four lanes that is sounding off their horn like there is no tomorrow. Within this same moment there are vehicles zooming past at high speeds of up to a hundred miles per hour. In no time, there is an accident and every motorist has to stop but there are some that will try to cut through the miles of traffic through riding within the break-down lane and zigzagging in and out of the four lanes. In this short instance of three sentences we can already see how detrimental a lack of patience can be to those around the impatient. That individual who has decided to engage in beeping their horn has probably put fear in the law abiding driver in front of them. There should be no discomfort for a driver that is following the rules on the road but so commonly this is the case.
At any moment, the speeding vehicles could collide with cars of lower speeds that are changing lanes. During these instances, serious fatalities could occur from just one impatient motorist. Those drivers that decide to create a “shortcut” (more commonly motorcyclists) make it very hard for the rescue crews that have to use the break-down lane to get to the accident scene. This lack of patience could cause the seriously injured death. We see too commonly, serious accidents that occur because there was an impatient individual. This impatience deters a community especially when there are are fatalities to the extent that the impatient person is punished legally while also alienated by the community. All of this is a chain reaction of impatience, the members of the community that decide to say they will not forgive that person who made a mistake out of impatience will live suffering more than the individual that decides to use forbearance to later gain resolution and a general acceptance of the one who caused the accident.
We tend to encounter distressed people that we can visibly see their mind is racing and they are looking for a solution but don’t have the patience to narrow it down correctly. This is a natural thing for every sentient being but when I am amongst this with other people, I say: “Just breathe.” I can think of vast instances where this two-word liner has been so comforting. “So pa,” an eastern terminology describing patience, is applied globally but inhabitants of sub-cultures that are not poverty stricken must learn to possess patience. In that same instance at the gas station, where we are at the back of the line and frustrated with that cashier whom is talking to every patron like there is no tomorrow- we need to keep in mind that there are people of all ages in third world countries that stand and wait for hours, even days to receive food rations and medical treatment in some of the harshest forms of inclement weather.
- Just Breathe -