I hadn’t learnt my lessons well. I could not pick his calls since he had kept me waiting for “hours.” I have never done it before. I am always on time. (No!!! A voice is telling me now. Lilian you have kept people waiting for ages, and they still don’t scream at you when you eventually turn up. You actually did it today in the morning.). I always ignore this voice. It was now five minutes and I had been standing close to White-stone Hotel (A now extinct hotel in Kisii Town). I did not understand why I could spend another second of my life waiting for someone. I do that almost every day. I walked away.
Patience is the word. It’s a virtue that most people lack. I do. If you’ve ever made me wait for you three minutes or so then you have probably heard a share of my sharp vocals. “Patience is one among the things that God faithfully denied me” goes the usual statement. I know it makes little sense, if it actually does, but time and again I do say it when angry. I don’t know where I got this from. I used to be very patient; too patient that my big sister used to tell me to stop being stupid. I remember the childhood patience I had with my primary school teachers. I lied down stupidly ready for the strokes of the cane (now this sounds too primary school) after having scored 98% in a mathematics test. That’s how bright I used to be. Lol…..not that so much has really changed, but I guess as I lost patience with people, so did I with books.
See, I wasn’t patient enough to tell the story to the end. Anyway all I remember is just as the teacher was about to drop it, my sister, then in class 8 and I in 7 rose and called on him to stop it. I was in sobs. I was not weak but I was too patient to stand for my rights. I was riding on the benefits of having had a big sister for a schoolmate. She stomachs no nonsense. She acts to face the consequences later. She is the best thing that has ever happened to me. She taught me not to be stupidly patient with people and life. So I was finally not beaten. She saved my behinds from pain and suffering.
So many years later and I lost this golden virtue. Over years I trained myself not to wait. It all started in my high school. I will live blaming the school’s culture for my lost virtues and values on patience. What could you make out of an institution that offers you nothing but busy schedules whose importance or results you cannot tell? I hated those 15 minutes part of lunch mathematics practice things. It may sound weird, but thanks to Mrs. Ng’eno (I pray she got over that damn stroke) the then “Nakuru Girls High School” principal I had to do it. Then it clicks my mind I have been writing this post for the third day now. I have been stopping after running impatient with the Kenya Power Black outs that we are fighting back home. Probably I will not finish it.
Anyway, I need not talk more for you to note that I have not learnt to be patient with people, not even myself. My mind betrays me the most. From the words in this article it’s evident I have a long way to attaining civilization; yeah, for the few who think wasting time in useless meetings and hotels in the name of patience is being civilized. I rather be considered backward and naïve but save my time. Time that I will probably spend writing such pieces just for you. Or maybe scrolling through your Facebook and twitter timelines to know what you are up to. And lately my possession with politics. Had I been a bit patient with life I could have probably been a nominated MCA. Lolest…that broke my ribs.
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