Waiting

To say that communications technology changed our lifestyle is an understatement. It has changed more than that- our expectations, experiences, world views, happiness, frustrations.

Having someone wonder where you are when you don't come home at night is a very old human need. ~Margaret Mead

Before cellphones became such household and personal gadgets, getting hold of someone and asking for their whereabouts anytime of the day is downright inconvenient and inaccurate. We just have to have faith in that person that what they said before they left home that morning was indeed the truth—and the whole truth—of their itinerary for the day. Now, everything’s different, we can even have a tracker on that person’s phone and know instantly where they are.

The opposite of talking isn't listening. The opposite of talking is waiting. ~Fran Lebowitz

In turn, our expectations have changed. We have become more anxious, more impatient and unwilling to wait. When the person we are meeting is already 20 minutes late from our scheduled time and we have received no sms or call for the reason why, we easily get agitated. We try calling them, “San ka na ba?” and in reply they’ll say, “Papunta na” (how responsive) or worse just ignore the call or turn their phones off.

If you were going to die soon and had only one phone call you could make, who would you call and what would you say? And why are you waiting? ~Stephen Levine

Barney from the “How I met Your Mother” rationalizes that the reason why we have to wait three days before calling someone we really like is patterned after Jesus’ resurrection. If Jesus was resurrected the next day, no one would have believed he died because he was just alive the day before. If he was resurrected on the second day, the impact would be less because the waiting time would have been too short. Hence, the third day is perfect, it’s the time when people start to lose hope so when Jesus was resurrected, the effect was “legendary”, to say the least.

Waiting is painful. Forgetting is painful. But not knowing which to do is the worse kind of suffering. ~Paulo Coelho

It has been a week. And the worst part of it all is knowing that there are a host of ways of getting through to me—sms, phone call, landline, email, ym, skype—and yet not a single word.

Paul Obmina- entry no. 4