Waiting in the Wings

It sometimes seems that we are waiting for some better time to begin, for some starting point that is superior to the present. We often hesitate to build, 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 waiting for an entrance, like actors waiting in the wings when we should be playing our part. Sometimes we seem to be waiting to be free from worry, free from uncertainty; but if we always waited – and if all other men had always waited – to be free from unforeseen 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 is caused by procrastination. Part of it is caused by personal problems. But no one could ever count on long periods without problems. As one of the old philosophers asked, “Where do you think you could live without disturbance?” – Where or when do you think you could have lived without problems? Where or when do you think you could have lived without 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, or property or preparation that isn’t founded in part on faith. And if we have to know everything right now before we begin, we shall find that we have waited too long in the wings while others have played the parts. This is our life, our time, our opportunity. True, it isn’t all we wish it were. But if we don’t make plans and pursue them we shall never complete our plans. And to refuse to prepare, to refuse to perform is as foolish and fruitless as waiting off stage in the wins when we are supposed to be playing our part.