IMPATIENCE

If Patience is a Virtue, then Impatience must be a Fear—where Patience is missing, Fear rules—for what is the opposite of Virtue, but Fear?

Where Fear rules, the frightened ones find it unsettling to wait, for the sensation of Being Still unnerves them. 

Watch the impatient one ready himself, to stand in line at the grocery store.   With much anxiousness, he rapidly scans the various checkers.  Without actually acknowledging any one particular person—for the other people standing in line are no more than annoying obstacles—his eyes dart back and forth.  Suddenly, his body lunges forward when he sees a slight opening in the developing lines.  It is very possible with this type of nervous behavior—where you and I barely exist beyond out-of-focus entities in the way—your path will be severed with his lunging body.  In other words, he will Unconsciously—or is it consciously?—cut in front of you. 

Glaring at the cashier—to enforce the blinders he believes he is wearing to convince us (?) that he has no peripheral sight—he hardens his body language, rigidly stiffens in the neck and shoulders, locks his jaws and pretends as if he cannot see the others that before them he rabidly barged.  (Okay…maybe he wasn’t rabid, but he sure as hell was rude.)

Or how about the guy—or gal—who rolls her eyes and paces, while waiting for some “idiot” to finish counting a hundred wrinkled coupons.  Her breath steams heat out of her nose, she vaguely snorts, grunts, shifts her weight, stamps her feet, and rolls her eyes some more.

There is no logical reason for this behavior; it is simply the weakness birthed of Impatience.  The person suffering from this disorder cannot stand still. 
Or sit still.
It’s as if he is going to be attacked by a mob the instant he stops moving.  Chances are he won’t be attacked, but in his fear, something has triggered his belief that he is surrounded by danger. 

Perfectly innocent people in a grocery store, feeling uneasy and pressured, trying to locate items, dodging—or not dodging—other shoppers, pushing inferior carts that have no momentum, spending their hard-earned money on their needs for survival and comfort, perfectly innocent people taking care of themselves, and one person misreads the entire group and becomes frightened.

In his Fear, he starts running.  It begins inside his mind where others can’t see him jog, then in his stomach, where we can’t see him rush.  But make no mistake, the impatient one is running so fast inside his core, that his eyes, body- language, and behavior show the impression of a mild mad man (or mad woman), as he stiffly holds his limbs together—or throws them everywhere, depending on his style.

When in the presence of someone like this, it is imperative that you remain cool.  Be the Cucumber.  Be kind and gentle—laugh at the fool if it makes you feel better—but do not aggravate him.  Be light on your feet, and be ready to move out of his way.  You must be the wise one here.  Do not resort to his level!  Do not attempt to compete with his lunacy—he is a fool and he is frightened. 
Do not challenge him, as he is scared to death.  Strangers make him nervous.  The system makes him nervous—gee, can you blame him?  Most likely, he moves in and out the world of the Illegal, so he’s constantly paranoid of cops.  (Hey, one of us just might be undercover!)  He does not trust people in general, and he does not trust himself.  He believes the adversities are nonstop—which they basically are—and is angry for the adversities killing his Pleasure.

This person feels threatened by everything in the world—and everyone is his potential adversary.
He/she is your brother, your sister, your neighbor, your best friend.  Be easy and caring towards the Impatient One, for Fear, at present, is his enforcer—and his danger.

Think of him as an insecure baby inside of an adult’s body.