When I was in kindergarten, we all learned an important lesson. We were told that we needed to wait our turn. Our teacher taught us this lesson well. We were presented with a plate of cookies. If we waited our turn, we got to take two cookies from the plate. If we tried to push and shove our way to the front, we only got one cookie. Quite quickly, we all came to understand that it was best to wait our turn in line. Waiting in line meant that you were rewarded.
Today I was waiting for a bus to take me to the church. There was a long line but I was closer to the front then the back so I thought I was ok. But others pushed their way forward. They got in front of me. Suddenly I found myself not being able to get on that bus. I had to wait for the next one. I was upset, not because I had to wait, but because of the rudeness of others.
Waiting. Nobody likes it. It stops us from doing what we want to do. It uses up precious time on those days when we are very busy. It is not a planned part of our agenda. Whether waiting in line at the airport or stuck in a traffic jam, I bet few of us enjoy waiting. But sometimes, if it means that if the world is kept running in a good an orderly fashion, waiting might be a good thing.
But there are some things that should not be waited for. For instance, the refugees on Manus right now are in a dire situation. Power, water, and food has been cut off to them. They can't go back home because they will be persecuted. We need to lobby our politicians now to make changes in their policies and to come to a more just solution for these refugees. With all of the high profile cases of sexual abuse and harassment in the press right now, we must change our societal views of how men and women relate to each other. Boys must be taught that sexual harassment is not ok. Our world is being changed for ever by our manipulation of the environment. We must not wait, climate change is real. Our very lives depend upon us making those changes.
For most things it is ok to wait. There will always be another bus, you can have the fifth cookie from the plate and not the first. Waiting is not fun, but it is part of life. You just have to be patient with these small things. But we can't sit back and wait for someone else to do justice. When we see things that are unfair we need to speak up and act now. We can't say nothing while others suffer wrongs. We need to work for change that will benefit all. Our world needs us to speak up. Blessings.
