The Silver Lining
The total lockdown mandated by the Corona crisis has led people to stand in long queues in front of the grocery store for essential commodities. People equipped with mask and lessons on social distancing stood quietly maintaining a distance of at least three feet between each other. People were let in only one at a time for purchase. As I stood in this queue revising my shopping list and planning how I would go about picking up the vegetables and groceries I require from the store where each shelf can be recalled by memory by familiarity, so that I spend minimum time shopping, and giving some sense of relief to those waiting in the queue ; a thought sneaked in. The crisis has forced people to enforce discipline on themselves! People stood in queues at mandated distance between them without having to be monitored. Some helped out the elderly by offering to shop for them. Most amazing looked the fact that people, most usually always who are impatient which has now become the new normal way of behaviour, were somehow infected with Patience! Everyone had to wait at least forty five minutes for their turn into the store and this new infection caused people to suffer patience quietly. Some of them also had this additional symptom of a calm face with a smile stuck on it. This, as I observed, was spreading over to those exposed as the symptom started to show on them!
Is Patience an intrinsic virtue in a human being which has been suppressed by other vices and habits, which surfaces only when faced with a crisis ? So, are we discovering good old patience again in us humans? Is this the silver lining to the dark grey cloud?
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- The Silver Lining - April 8, 2020