On Waiting

The best things in life are worth waiting for.

Parents have to wait 9 months before they can see their baby. Kids need to wait three years before they can go to “school.” After that, they have to wait at least 16 more years before they get out of it. You wait 365 days for your next birthday. Even ordering a frapuccino requires us to wait a few minutes.

But isn’t it a grand experience to finally get what you’ve waited for even if it’s just a barista announcing your name so you can gleefully grab your caffeine fix for the day? Isn’t the first sip worth your wait?

Then why do we refuse to wait for the bigger and more important things?

I know a lot of people who smile and agree to wait for the chicken part that they prefer or for a special mayonnaise-free burger, but throw a fit when God tells them to wait for Mr. Right-For-Them.

What’s the rush, young ‘uns?

This is a short list of the reasons why they can’t and won’t wait:

• They’re bored with their lives. Yup. Believe it or not, there are 12-13 year olds who think that getting a love life is a hobby. They crave the short thrills of another person texting you back whenever you ask them,”Kumain, ka na ba?(Have you eaten?)” Apparently, this generation has nothing else to do but bum around and “hang out.”
• Everybody else has a bf/gf/mu. At least that’s true for every pre-teen on TV. We see these prepubescent people with their arms around each other on soaps every weekday and watch them lip sync to mushy ballads on weekend variety shows. It seems like single people are a minority.
• They have nobody else. This is a sad reality. Kids who can’t turn to their parents or to other authority figures turn to their own peers for emotional satisfaction. Nothing beats having somebody who’s always on your side to talk to about your mom issues.
• They don’t know any better. Yes. Believe it or not, there are kids who have never heard that it is not okay to give yourself emotionally to someone. They go on thinking that it’s normal and okay.

If your reasons include those I have listed above, this is what I have to tell you, “GO GET SOMETHING MORE WORTHWHILE TO DO!” Keep yourself occupied with more important things like studying, working, praying, or improving yourself.

So, why should you wait?

Waiting is a skill that everyone should master. Let me tell you a story.

When I was a kid, about 6-7 years old, I found a chrysalis under one of our plants at home. My twin sister and I couldn’t wait to see if a butterfly would come out of it. We both hated the waiting part of the whole thing. So, one day, I just decided to “help” the butterfly come out of its hiding. I could see one antennae poking out, so I just pinched the dry shell until it cracked. I kept poking and tearing the chrysalis until the poor thing popped out. What I saw wasn’t the butterfly I expected. It looked more like a tiny worm draped in old sheets. At that moment, I knew I did something wrong. I couldn’t bear to tell my twin sister (who was more patient than me and would not do what I did) that I mangled our dream pet. I just ran inside the house and pretended like nothing happened. I remember how hard my heart pounded while I hoped that she wouldn’t check on the butterfly that day, but she did. She also found the poor little creature that would never pass as the butterfly she was born to be. My sister yelled for me to show me what happened. My aunt came running to see what the fuss was about and when she saw the butter-crawl, she said that it will never fly. Now, it’s easy picking for any bird that feels the urge to chomp on a bug. It was all my fault.

I never admitted to that until now. I killed a beautiful creature all because I couldn’t wait.

Love is like that. You have to wait for it. Any impatient effort to pry it out of its hiding will bring forth a puny and deformed version of what it was supposed to be. We don’t get what we expect and we either hate the butterfly or ourselves for it.

I wasted a pretty little butterfly because I wouldn’t wait.

I suggest that you wait to make sure that you won’t waste a perfectly perfect love story.

And that’s my two cents on that.