Yesterday, on my way back from a meeting with my sister, I witnessed a rather intense and curiously epiphanic moment. There were two cars in front of me, a blue sedan following a gray sedan that was waiting to make a left turn from the middle of the lane. The driver in the blue sedan immediately turned on her right signal and pushed to change lanes. Speeding away on the adjacent lane was a royal blue SUV. Within a fraction of a second, I heard the SUV’s horn bust through the neighboring cars before practically hitting the blue sedan that had just changed lanes. The SUV stopped within one foot of hitting the sedan’s bumper.

My heart raced. For a moment, I thought the entire lane was going to clog behind a disastrous rear-end collision, the SUV crushing the life out of the blue sedan’s inhabitants. It was a close call. Then I thought, “Who’s impatience caused this mess?” The driver of the blue sedan or of the SUV?

Both. Due to both drivers’ impatience towards meeting a predetermined arrival time, they could have both died right then and there on Monroe Rd.

Think about it. Can you imagine how many deaths were caused by impatience? Even as simple a scenario as an impatient word or reaction. Remember the case of a mother faking her identity on Instant Messenger, ridiculing the life out of her daughter’s bully? Why not let the school handle it or speak to the bully’s parents or perhaps inspire her daughter to stand up for herself and engage in a mature conversation to end the bully’s incessant harassment? Her impatience to instead personally solve the issue encouraged a teenager’s suicide.

Can you think of a time when an employer’s impatience caused an employee’s work ethic or morality to suffer, and thereby causing the employee to feel worthless and depressed? Perhaps in a household from one loved one to another. I can think of many children whose lives have suffered due to their parents’ impatience. They developed disorders – bulimia, anorexia, over-eating, depression, anxiety – most of which instigate suicidal thoughts. All because someone cannot wait a minute, an hour, a day.

Our society is growing sadly impatient. We expect everything to happen immediately; for documents, proposals, earnings, people, events to arrive when anticipated. When they do not, we blow our horns in frustration and can cause a collision. Its not worth it, folks. I understand that there is only one life to live. But remember, there is only ONE life to live. Do not spend it frustrated or in anticipation. If we do, then we lose sight of what is truly valuable – love, happiness, passion, and quite frankly, life.

It is not the end of the world to make a wrong turn on a highway. Enjoy the adventure that awaits. Perhaps you may discover a place you’ve never seen or have always dreamed of seeing. Like a rare flower scattered across a lonely meadow. Or a store/coffee shop that sells a product you haven’t enjoyed since your childhood. Take the time to appreciate the clear sky that appears on a chilly and windy day because the spring may bring 3 months of gray skies. Be patient with your loved ones, even after they break a valuable piece in your collection or make a controversial decision, because they may not be there tomorrow.

Every day I see what patience can save and what impatience can destroy. Can you spare a life today? Can you save a life today, starting with yours?