THE WAITING GAME BUILDS OUR CHARACTER

JOANNA Lumley spent her childhood in hot and humid Malaysia and read a book called Ponny the Penguin. The northern lights was the most beautiful scene Ponny had ever seen in her life. After reading that, former Bond girl Joanna knew she had to experience what Ponny saw: the northern lights, or aurora borealis, which are natural light displays in the sky, usually observed at night, particularly in the polar regions.

Joanna, who never played with snow in her childhood, finally travelled to the North Pole with a camera crew and survived the harsh terrain and icy snow. She was padded up like the Michelin Man, slept in three sleeping bags on a block of ice in Igloo Hotel and rode on snowmobiles. But the greatest challenge was in the waiting. Waiting for the northern lights that would only appear when there is a right recipe of natural ingredients: cloudless skies, soft moonlight and intense solar activity.
The waiting game is a tedious process and the worst thing is we can never know what the outcome may be. There are things that we can plan and work towards. But there are countless others that we cannot do anything about in our own strength. The only thing we can do is to wait it out. In fact, there is even a 1998 television movie called the Waiting Game and a song by The Cooper Temple Clause bearing the same title.
We have waited sometime or another in our lives.

With Christmas round the corner, children over here wait for Santa to arrive on his sleigh laden with gifts. Apparently, Canada Post offers a service where children can send their letters to: Santa Claus, North Pole, HOH OHO, OHO, Canada. Each letter gets a reply from Santa himself. All for a bit of fun really. Tell a child that Santa does not exist and he will burst into tears. It is a pity though that the true meaning of Christmas is masked by consumerism.
The waiting game can be both exhilarating and frustrating.
Exhilarating when the next day brings forth the results that we wish to see. Frustrating when what we hope for crumbles before our eyes.
After an exam, we wait for the results to be released. Then, we wait to attend scholarship interviews. Next, we wait for the results of scholarship interviews. Then we apply for jobs and wait for the outcome of job interviews. When we have made a small bundle, we wait for the soul mate to appear. We wait to tie the knot and have children. When the children have become independent, we wait for that round-the-world trip. We wait to enjoy our retirement years. The long and the short of it, we spend our childhood waiting to grow up, and then we spend our senior years waiting for others to grow up.

I was at the passing-out ceremony of the Gardai (police) once. I could see the pride in the eyes of the graduating officers as they performed the march past and pattern formations.
The bugles blared and the drum roll was electrifying. Families, dressed in their best, came in droves and stood in the bitter cold in the open square to witness their loved ones receive commendation from the chief commissioner of police. No one complained. The waiting was worth it.
Yet, sometimes waiting does not seem to pay off. Take the apple tree in our backyard for example. We waited for the tree to bear fruit. It was terribly exciting when the green apples showed up. Then we had to wait some time longer to see the apples turn red. That was exciting, too. The day came and we took out the basket to harvest the red apples only to discover that the birds had got to them first. That was definitely not exciting.
My better half once told me, whenever we are anxious over a certain matter, just remind ourselves that if nobody died as a result of it, then the situation could not be all that bad. I also find that in most cases, a problem does not look so bad after we have had a good night's sleep. Somehow, a clear head in the morning helps dispel the misery of the night before.
If anything, waiting builds character. Sounds cliché but it is true. The journey of waiting yields many corresponding lessons that help us navigate life's journey better. We become more mellow and less quick tempered. We learn to be more accommodating of other people's shortcomings as we are reminded that there are things beyond our control.
We learn to know our place in the cosmic universe.
Joanna waited and waited. When she finally lay on her back on the icy bed of snow and watched the spectacular curtain of the northern lights dance before her, she said: "For an hour-and-a-half, everything you can imagine began to happen. There were long, thin strings which went like snakes across the sky. Over our heads, there was this light that burst out in a great flower of strings, like an anemone. I felt like Ponny the Penguin. I was moved to tears... It has all come from the sun and our little tiny planet that we're trying to save... You see how majestic it is, and that it's part of the massive universe, and you begin to feel very humble."
Wishing all Christians a very Blessed Christmas.

Read more: The waiting game builds our character - Columnist - New Straits Times http://www.nst.com.my/opinion/columnist/the-waiting-game-builds-our-character-1.20868#ixzz1gtzx8BEA