Captives of the carelessness of cashiers

my first attempt at art/calligraphy - I will get better!

Waiting in the bank with ticket number 187 in my hand. The predicted waiting time for my ticket is one hour and 40 minutes! What is it about waiting that plunges me into instant despair? For people, for buses and even for guests.  Is it a sudden awareness of the passing of one’s life? The precious days, hours and minutes allotted are bled painfully and uselessly. Surrounded by others bound in the futility of acquiescence. Nothing else to do in this queue but to stare at each other banefully. We were all thinking roughly the same poisonous thought. “But for all of you and I’d not be stuck here waiting! Your very presence is my captivity. You might just as well wear prison guard outfits”.

Here we sit captives of the carelessness of cashiers. They seem to be on a permanent go slow. For the thousandth time, I think of conducting a time management experiment. Timing how long each cashier takes. While waiting in queues in Malta, in banks, I’m convinced that they take exceptionally long with each customer. Mind you, my father used to describe one cashier in Northern Ireland who was so exceptionally slow that “the lice are dropping off her!”  It is only today I worked out what he meant. Obviously, she was so slow as to appear dead. Hence the lice were jumping ship since their prey had died and they require a living host. Makes me wonder at humanity's present state. How many qualities that we normally associate with a healthy living humanity are jumping ship too?  Is our humanity, compassion, courtesy, empathy, justice and kinship also deserting us? Is this civilisation bleeding away the very life forces that sustain growth and development? Has the carcass of this civilisation become the dining table of the carrion? Devouring its innards with rapturous ecstasy? 

Well No! There are amazing people everywhere working hard to make positive change in their neighbourhoods and further afield. Eager to contribute to the betterment of society. You find them in all walks of life, from all backgrounds. They roll up their sleeves and look around to see what the needs are and get stuck in. They are rarely publicity seeking. Because praise is not their motivation. Since we so rarely see their faces dominating our media, in print and on our screens,  it is worth sharing a little light on individuals that should inspire us all. They come from a wide range of nationalities and beliefs, in case we mistakenly think that the goodness comes in one sex/colour/culture or religious background. 

people who made a difference

Until we look around us and are inspired by the pure-hearted we will ever be drawn to the blood-thirsty vultures and their greedy feeding frenzy. Staining our soil and our souls.  Twisting our perceptions of the choices available to humanity.

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I have returned my ticket, seen my cashier and return triumphant with my task completed.  As I leave the still packed vestibule of the bank with others still holding tickets in their hands, I wonder what gems wait here with only good deeds to speak of? Perhaps we will never really know what good others are capable of until we find our own capacity for change.