The Art of Waiting in Line
July 28th, 2009 by robin
I arrived in JFK mid afternoon and the line at immigration was about a thousand miles long, or at least it looked that way, there was the longest line I have ever seen. After a eight hour flight, the two hour and forty minute wait to get to the head of the queue, was a long wait indeed. I was however a good opportunity to practise being relaxed and patient, especially as I was in just as much a hurry as everyone else. But, I am delighted to announce I wasn’t angry, unlike the man with the bulging veins in his neck, who managed to look as though he had just won the World Lemon Sucking Contest by some margin.
Any attempt at conversation were repelled by strangled angry words of indignant disgust, so I gave up, and got my book out, and read over 100 pages before getting to the head of the queue myself. The immigration officer I went to had a cheery smile to greet me, and when I asked if there was a two for one offer on at the moment she laughed and told me in the height of the summer it was like this every day.
Everytime we meet another person we have a choice. Which is to make it a positive experience for the other person or not. To make sure that we take responsibility for how we are feeling and make sure that any anger, gloom or grumpiness is kept in check. I thought about the immigration official, who must see many 100’s of people every week, with the whole range of human emotion on display, from years of travel I have found that immigration officials are not hired by the tourist board of their nations, so being friendly and cheery are not part of the job. In fact most are very professional and very poker faced most of the time, so to find this friendly smiling
person, was a joy. Which is also a choice, I guess.
So chose to make others feel good about themselves and do your best to be your best, I guess is the lesson for us all.
2 Responses to “The Art of Waiting in Line”
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Great lesson Robin. What we give out we get back, so it may as well be cheery! If only everyone would do this then the world would be such a happy place!
It is interesting and no doubt complex as to why people do indeed get frustrated. It happens to all of us from time to time. What I've noticed is how quick we sense we are not being in harmony and snap out of it back into a positive mind set. This is something that takes practice. No only did you practice being patient and relaxed but also read 100 pages of a book so you were entertained. It would make good contrast if I asked
"how was getting through customs at JFK?"
The answers from you and the Lemon sucking champion would be like chalk and cheese. Yet both of you where under the same conditions. It doesn't even matter if The Lemon Champion had a bad flight, didn't sleep, hated lines, or just didn't like airports. The can only control his own virtual reality.
A great quote I love,
"Circumstances don't make the man, they only reveal him to himself."
— Epictetus
That was an insightful post Robin, look forward to catching up.
P.S. I'm working on a detailed book review of Natural Born Winners with a little something extra. Look forward to sharing with you when finished.
Too bad I just missed you, left around then to come back to Sydney.