Impatience is a Virtue Too

Last Saturday, I waited over and hour and a half in a line to play a video game for 2 minutes. While this may sound like an exercise in patience, the only reason I was there along with everyone else was, in essence, impatience. The game was new. This was the first time any of us could possibly play it. It's still not released and won't be for a few more months. Our impatience to wait those few months led us to a line in which we waited for the sole purpose of waiting significantly less time to play a game.

Like any sane adult, I could have simply avoided the line and waited a few months to buy the game and play it at home. But I chose not to. My son and I both went and we made a memory together. A memory that was significant because we DIDN'T wait. A memory that will last because we braved the line to be amongst the pioneers of Best Buy to play that new game which all the rest of the world would have to wait. We can proudly proclaim that we have already played Super Smash Bros for Wii U long before it has arrived.

I have other similar memories as well. My wife and I camped-out inside a Walmart back in layaway to purchase one of a few Nintendo Wii's that were being released at that time. Sure, we could have waited patiently for a release when there would be extras to go around, but then we would not have a solid memory about our purchase! We waited in line at midnight outside a GameStop for the release of The Lich King. We've braved the freezing weather of Black Friday and waited hours outside way earlier than we would ever deem worthy of awakening any other day. In fact, we did this multiple times. All for the sole purpose of getting a deal on an item that would likely be cheaper later anyway. But what did we really get out of it? Not just an item--we got a memory. Something fun. Something exciting. Something that will last longer than the items we purchased. We had an adventure.

While most of these acts of impatience led to even greater acts of patience, they are things that adults tend to forego as they get older. They become more patient as to await things to be easier. Laziness overcomes impatience. It may not be prudent to harbor resentment whilst awaiting in a line (i.e. the common construct of impatience), but I say we ought to embrace our impatience in order to create adventures and memories. Why wait to see a movie when you can camp out the night before? It's fun! Stop being so old! Get off your lazy rump and be impatient about something! At least then you'll have something more than your prudence to remember!