# The Waiting Room - Response By:: [[Ross Jackson]] 2025-12-12 “The waiting room is not a crisis. It’s a strategy.” Few will understand this; fewer still will enact it. This view is completely out of step with society, and therefore, it holds promise. As indicated, “the real skill is learning to wait without collapsing.” If only more could master this skill. They likely won’t for a variety of reasons. Some are societal, some are personal. Reducing life to lifestyle has eroded the concept of both persistence and contingency. Demand reigns supreme. We want what we want when we want it, and any delay is a personal affront. One never has to wait. One can leave the waiting room at any point. Increasingly, most will simply get on their phone and eventually forget for what they were waiting or why. Consciously waiting in active, productive anticipation is rare. The waiting can be torture, wasted, or productive. It is up to the individual how the waiting is experienced and what, if any, value it produces. Perhaps the timely metaphor for this phenomenon is what American society has done to the Christmas season. Historically, Advent was a time for preparation for the Christmas celebration. Starting four weeks before Christmas, Advent focuses the faithful on hope, peace, joy, and love. Today, Christmas starts at Halloween, with a focus of maximizing consumption through sales. Paradoxically, the season has been more than doubled, and the waiting has been significantly reduced. It has been demanded, and thus it is. There is no substitute for waiting when it is needed. One becomes trapped by what one avoids. When waiting occurs due to reasons exogenous to the individual, what one decides to do will be consequential. Every society and time has rare individuals who transcend. The waiting room might be the best place to observe who among us is transcendent. #### Related Items [[Waiting]] [[Society]] [[Life]] [[Christmas]] [[Work]] [[Skills]]