Patience

The story I want to share happened last Friday (September 28). It was our first offset day at studio. Because it was Friday, the studio time ended at 4 pm. At that time I was quite tired as I also spent the night before drafting.  As usual, I use angkot as the transportation to home. Also as usual, I was trapped in traffic jam. It was not weird at all as it was about weekend, a time when it seemed like all Jakarta people suddenly moved to Bandung. It was my second angkot (I use three angkots to go to or from campus) and it was quite full of passengers. I sat at the front because it was more comfortable. Overcoming both tiredness and traffic problem, I slept in there :p

The sky had been dark when I woke up and realized the car didn't move from the place where I started to sleep. It was terrific, I felt like I had slept for quite a time but I was still surrounded by other vehicles, no way to go ahead or even back.

Then, well, I was angry, my head was full of anger. I really hated this situation, stuck in traffic jam. I was tired, I had slept but couldn't sleep anymore though I had tried. I wanted to arrive at home as soon as possible, having a bath, having dinner, watching TV with mother and sister for a while then going to sleep. I cursed this situation loudly in my heart. Harsh words like 'F', 'FYJP', 'S', 'A', and their friends from the zoo could be heard inside my heart. They didn't come out from my mouth of course, but my face expression explained what was in my heart better than what my mouth didn't say.

And the inspiring things related with the title was what I heard from the driver next to me. He said this to the passengers at back: "We are stuck in traffic jam. All you'd better sleep now. I'll wake you up when we've arrived." with intonation of patience and sincere.

I couldn't drive but I knew exactly, driving in traffic jam was much tiring than just sitting as passenger like me. I thought it should be him, the driver, who got angry. Instead of being angry, he said those good things to passengers. His patience dealing with traffic jam successfully made me feel ashamed of being angry and so impatient.

After we were free from the traffic jam (finally!!), the passenger next to me got off first. After that passenger got off, the driver said to me, "Tired, eh?" with kind intonation and  I just smiled and laughed a little as an answer.

Patience, like the driver showed to the passengers including me, is such a good virtue. Here I put the definition of the word patience which I take from thefreedictionary.com:

These nouns denote the capacity to endure hardship, difficulty, or inconvenience without complaint. Patience emphasizes calmness, self-control, and the willingness or ability to tolerate delay.

How being patient can simply give positive energy to people around you, like this driver did. I was about to explode, but his sincere words could relieve the harsh feeling in my heart.

From this driver I find out that I quite easily get angry and grumble. I also find out that being patient is good, both for you and people around you. That's why I should learn to be more patient, facing all bad situation without complaining. Because it really doesn't make anything better.