On Patience

According to the definition given on Wikipedia, patience “is the ability to endure waiting, delay, or provocation without becoming annoyed or upset, or to persevere calmly when faced with difficulties”.

Already in my childhood, my parents soon found out that patience would not have been one of my talents. And they were right. Therefore, if nature does not give you a certain quality, you have only two ways out: either you avoid any situation in which you need what you don’t have, or you try to acquire it from other sources.

If you need a good school to learn patience, come to Socotra. Live and work here for a while! If you ever make it, you will get a whole Master’s degree. Some people here are trained in this fine pedagogical art of teaching you through the endurance of certain situations that can really get you crazy. Some others seem to be genetically patient and, if your deficiency is obvious to them, they may just advise you to “be patient”, but they can hardly understand why such a friendly advice is getting you madder than before…

In Socotra, the tour operators’ jeeps, the waiters of the touristic restaurant and those claiming money run fast towards their aim, but all the rest is slow. The donkeys are easy-going and the goats are lazy to move away from the road. Workers, in the morning, take their time and patiently wait for the afternoon to come and bring them relaxing khat-chewing sessions. The money transfers are soporific, the administrative procedures are narcoleptic and the internet connection is cataleptic. Hunger slowly devours you while the food simmers gently, until it arrives cold to your table (even if the waiters run real fast…)

Life in slow motion can be horrific to somebody that patiently tries to promptly solve every coming problem, as to have time to efficiently face the next one. If, in addition, the speedy metabolism of his body does not match the environment, he is in trouble. The worst you can think of is that such unlucky guy is also an Aries: his mental health is seriously in danger indeed. As there is no helpful drink he can have from time to time, one solution, the only solution, is to concentrate in getting his “Master’s Degree in Patience and Perseverance”, granted by the University of Socotra. The diploma, hanged on the wall of his office, would automatically cause the admiration and amazement of the most respected senior Buddhist ascetic.

What I do fear is that this unhappy character may end up so exhausted that he would not even find the strength to hang the bloody paper, but just to hang himself.