Year 1, Day 157

With the congestion gone from my head today, I was able to realize some things I missed over these past 2 days while in a medicine haze. I missed having patience. I had a short fuse that was downright ugly.

Luckily, my patience is usually something I am proud of, as I tend to have an extremely high tolerance for a wide range of actions that might make others bang their heads against a wall. But during these past days, when I thought I would join that group of head bangers many times, it got me thinking about patience. It made me worried about how I could possibly instill this virtue in Jack when all odds are against me. The world we live in has made kids believe that they can get anything they want in an instant . . . better yet, trade something in the moment there's an upgrade. In a world like that, won't children be raised completely unable to delay any kind of gratification? What they will want, they will expect immediately with great satisfaction. Doesn't meet expectations? They'll just move on to the next best thing.

I read a mother's story the other day about how her child had been saving up for a video game and it was finally time to buy it. The mom and child went on the computer and purchased the game. The child was immediately disappointed and flabergasted at the fact that it didn't just APPEAR when they bought it. Either it was supposed to show up as a file, or come out of the computer. It never occured to him that he would have to wait.

Surely, lightening speed advancements in technology have a lot to do with children feeling this way. I feel like an old maid preaching about technology as if it was the devil and Satan has come to bring us all to hell. But, if we all just keep in mind that these little ones watch us everyday . . . and model our actions, you might be less apt to honk the horn incesantly when someone is delayed at a green light (pertains mostly to Boston drivers), or perhaps you'd take a deep breath when you are stuck behind an extremely slow person at the checkout asking to return an item. Patience is a virtue. Let's practice it everyday.