On Waiting

I have been considering the matter of waiting in life. There is a Finnish song by Saimaa and Pyhimys (Olen odottanut kärsivällisesti, in English (by ChatGPT): “I Have Waited Patiently”) which seems to be about someone waiting in life for some obstacle to go away so their life could finally begin, but someone else’s turn seems to always be first. What finally follows is brutal realization of how little life there actually is in this life of ours.

Some excerpts:

Fin:

Ja mä oon odottanu kärsivällisesti, niin kärsivällisesti Sitä et tää elämä alkaa, et se alkais jo oikeesti Sitä että on mun vuoro Jonkun vuoro on aina ennen mua

Eng by ChatGPT:

And I’ve waited patiently, so patiently For this life to begin, for it to really start For it to be my turn It’s always someone else’s turn before mine

And later

Fin:

Ikävöinti on osa elämää Itse olen ikävöiny koko ikäni Ikävöiny ja odottanu Miten se ei jotenki oo koskaan tässä? Se elämä, en oo tajunnu Kuinka vähän sitä on elämää on elämässä Ja venaan edelleen et poistuis joku este Mut odottavan aika voi loppua kesken

English by ChatGPT:

Longing is a part of life I’ve been longing my whole life Longing and waiting Why does it somehow never feel like it’s here? This life—I haven’t realized How little life there is in life And I’m still waiting for some obstacle to go away But the wait can run out of time

There is so little of life that everyone should be desperately yearning to get most of it! Our mindset should be similar to Sisyphus’s in Camus’ essay: “Scorn of the gods, hatred of death, passion for life.”.

Somehow some, or even many of still postition ourselves to waiting: next holiday, maybe next summer, once this or that is handled, then I’ll… Well maybe you will, or maybe life takes away that chance while you are waiting.

The life is unfortunately short, and as already Seneca has written, time is the most precious asset and we should not be giving it away slightly for matters that are not important to us.

Everyone seems to agree that the velocity of change is going up in the world which makes waiting even more dangerous. The shitty opportunistic short-term gain seeking “leaders” of the world are breaking up the world as we know it, and nobody knows what will follow.

I have been waiting too much, I have missed a lot of chances due to that. I have been playing the “safe” game, which in the end may turn out not to be that safe. I do have some bold moments in my past as well, but there have been too long periods of settling to wait if things might gt better without me doing anything.

At least I have now moved to a completely new town full of different possibilities, so maybe my mindset is changing and I don’t spend the next 10 years waiting for some block to disappear.

Waiting is lunacy. Don’t do it.