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Couple of things first: On Friday, I was dumb and had the wrong date on the newsletter. Oops.
Also, in today’s e-mail version, a sentence didn’t get finished that should have. You can read it below.
-KtE
Zen-like patience disappeared
Whatever happened to patience? I think it went out the window with the baby and bathwater when smartphones took over our lives and brought the world into our lives with taps of our fingertips.
At some point in my 35 years (down to a baker’s dozen of days before I hit 36) I knew I had patience. In college during karate class I sat seiza* in bare feet on wooden dance floors without complaint. I grew up with 56k dialup connections that took forever to complete a download. (I have a good Thanksgiving story I will save for later use about Napster and dialup. For now just understand my connection frustrations with the internet run deep.)
Yet somewhere in the intervening years following trials and tribulations in high school and college, my patience is slowly dwindling down. I am restless and bored by what always seems like the second verse, same as the first locally. I pace around the house a lot more than I should be, unable to get comfortable enough to write the amount of stories I want to in a day, versus those I actually get done.
I’m not just losing patience with myself, but others in recent days and weeks. I’m much louder with people I like but who listen to me gripe in recent days. I find myself curt and otherwise quiet with those who I find aren’t measuring up to their potential (also myself included among that category.)
I can’t stand what I find to be a slacking work ethic across the board in the service industries around the county. I internally losey mind when I hear people finding excuses for not fixing real problems.
Yet as I preached in recent days, perseverance is key to overcoming obstacles. Including those self-imposed by our attitudes and preconceived notions of who we are as people.
I was in the line at Captain D’s on Sunday night – behind I believe one of the many friends I have in the community, Janice Stewart. It took what seemed like a very long time (more than 30 minutes) to get my order. I found myself like in most times when stuck in drive thru lines wanting to pound my head against the steering wheel in absolute frustration.
The oxymoron of fast food remains one I can’t stand, for it is a fallacy of language created as a marketing term. What’s so speedy about it? You drive to the restaurant and back to the house with at least (in Cedartown) a five minute wait in good circumstances for food, and in really bad traffic you’ll wait 30-40 minutes.
So I waited, and moved Janis the Jeep a car length with each order filled in front of me, then exited in a reasonable amount of time when I got to the window and paid.
I was probably less than polite by this point, seeing as I had sat for a good while and hunger caused my stomach to make those strange noises when it begins to move to full on hanger. The time wasn’t completely wasted thanks to HBO Max and the Season 5 episode of The West Wing titled “The Benign Prerogative.” At least I had good television to keep me company.
My point being this: there was no real reason for me to get angry at these folks getting close to closing on a Sunday for taking a while to make dinner. I can’t fault them for wanting to get the cleanup over with and wanting to go home. I know that feeling.
Yet we all get so caught up in the concept of something like fast food, high speed internet and near instant gratification thanks to the ease of shopping on Amazon online or Walmart in person that forget to stop and smell the flowers. Two day shipping for shopping online means the delay is not that long, and you don’t have to show your face to anyone but the guy making deliveries. Not to mention all these streaming services that bring movies into the home with no extra cost other than the monthly subscription fees.
We’ve forgotten how to slow down some, and I’m included in that group.
So here’s something I’d like us all to try: take a deep breath, count to 10, and remember that we are all humans. We make mistakes. Tasks that need to be done take time to complete correctly. A meal isn’t cooked in two minutes (well, not a good one) and Rome wasn’t built in a day.
Instead of trying to lose our minds over the small stuff and letting the bigger problems go, maybe we should flip that formula. Start working on the issues that matter, and letting the little problems that crop up in life fall to the wayside.
That’s all I’ve got for this morning. I’ll be back tomorrow with something much more topical.
-Kevin the Editor
*Seiza is a traditional sitting stance in Japan that requires one to sit with their legs tucked underneath in such a way you rest your weight on the bottom of your feet and the top of your feet on the floor. It is not comfortable to do unless you have a pillow of some kind. Try it out. That’s a test of patience.
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Today’s forecast
Expect the rain to stick around today – an 80% chance of showers remains in the forecast from the National Weather Service – so keep that umbrella and a jacket handy. Only supposed to be 62 today.
Slight chance of rain overnight, then more rain pushing through again on Tuesday. Get out the comfy blanket and a good book. Who wants to be outside in this weather?
Something to Watch this Morning
CPAC was held over the weekend, and CBS Morning News talks about the speech former President Donald Trump made. Sounds like he’s coming back for a second try in 2024. (I suspect it’ll be money wasted, but OK. Let’s see what happens over the next three years.)
Something to Read this Morning
A Democratic challenger has announced his run for our Congressional seat currently held by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, per the AJC.
Myanmar is still in turmoil after the military coup in the country.
NY Times: Pro-Trump forces pushed the antifa lie and refused to take responsibility for the attack on the U.S. Capitol, and how they did it. (This is one of those I wanted to share for the purposes of keeping up with this story, not because I have any specific opinion on it… I will add this: the lack of accountability in all forms of life in our nation currently is being noticed by my generation. The GOP won’t survive the next decade at this rate.)
Speaking of accountability, someone needs to tell NY Gov. Cuomo that he should prepare to have to resign. That situation? UGLY. Especially when your party isn’t supporting you.
Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy was sentenced on corruption charges.
Back tomorrow with more! Thanks for spending a few of your precious minutes reading the newsletter!
