Waiting in the Wings

It sometimes seems that we are waiting for some better time to begin, for some tranquil time that doesn’t come, for some starting point that is superior to the present; and we often hesitate to build, hesitate to prepare, hesitate to commit ourselves to any future plan or purpose because we don’t know exactly what we can count on. We tend to mark time as if we were players waiting for an entrance, waiting for a cue that doesn’t come, waiting in the wings when we should be playing our part. Sometimes we seem to be waiting to be free from worry, free from anxiety, free from uncertainty; but if we always waited ⎯ and if all other men had always waited ⎯ to be free from unforeseen eventualities and uncertainties, the world would always have waited wherever it was, and progress would have been impossible. Part of this waiting is caused by fear of the future; part of it perhaps is caused by the pleasant pastime of procrastination. But whatever the cause, it loses irreplaceable time. No one could ever count on long periods without problems. Problems present themselves in a personal way even when there are no acute public problems. As one of the old philosophers asked, “Where do you think you could live without disturbance?” ⎯ added to which we might ask: Where or when do you think you could have lived without problems? Where or when do you think you could have lived without making difficult decisions? There is no time that we know of that could be said to be certain so far as the future was concerned. There is no investment of time or money, of property or preparation that isn’t founded in part on faith. And if we had to know everything right now before we begin, we shall find that we have waited in the wings while the scenes have been shifted and the parts have been played, and our own time for performance has passed. This is our generation, our time, our opportunity. True, it isn’t all we wish it were. But if we don’t make plans and pursue substantial purposes, we shall never complete our plans. And to refuse to enter earnestly in, to refuse to prepare and to perform is as foolish and fruitless as waiting off stage in the wings when we are supposed to be playing our part.