Langsam!

It means slowly.  I used to hear it a lot.  My Grandma would watch me rushing around, and over and over again I'd hear her say: 

"Langsam, langsam!"  "Slow down!"

If you know anything about German culture, you know that Germans aren't famous for being patient.  Punctuality and precision, yes.  Patience?  Not so much.  And even though Southern Germans, like my Grandma, have a reputation for being a bit more laid back, that's only by a standard measured against Northern Germans, not American kids from New Jersey.  Even so, my impatience and regular rushing around were apparently cause enough to elicit my very German grandmother's regular admonition: 

"Don't be so hasty!"

I've always heard that patience is a virtue, but I don't buy it.  Sure, it makes sense to set your mind at ease when confronted with situations that are out of your control.  It doesn't help matters to stomp your feet and snort and grumble when you're on the slow line at Starbucks (I've tried, believe me).  Being patient can help get you home safely on a jammed freeway.  But a virtue?

It seems to me that patience is an excuse.  Too often, when the time to act is NOW, patience is used as a justification for inaction.  Seriously, folks, how long should we wait for justice?  How long should we sit around and hope that someone else takes the bull by the horns?  How long must people languish in poverty and despair?  Until the time is right?  What time would that be?

The time is now.  Patience is no virtue when opportunity is slipping away.  Patience is no virtue when the homeless are dying on the streets.  Patience is no virtue when people are silenced or imprisoned unjustly.  Patience is no virtue when we live in a society where the color of one's skin determines how they are treated.  Patience is no virtue when anyone has to wait for the slowly shifting tides of public option in order to gain equal treatment under the law.

My Grandma was right, ich habe kein Ruhe im Arsch.  I'm not very patient.  I come by it honestly.  Life is short, and people need us, and somewhere in all the self-centered hustle and bustle of our busy world, I can still hear a voice calling....and it's asking, "How long must I wait?"

"This is the day...this is the day!"  Carpe diem.  Seize it.