Waiting Rooms have always fascinated me.
I just love the idea that there is an entire room set aside for the express purpose of doing nothing in particular.
Most rooms that have been given their own names usually have those things they are named for actually HAPPEN in them. You LIVE in a Living Room. You DINE in a DINING ROOM. You OPERATE in an OPERATING Room. You RUMPUS in a Rumpus Room - whatever RUMPUSING is. At least it’s contained to one room.
In a Waiting Room all you do is wait. That’s the whole purpose of the place; to give you a physical area to simply pass time in, until you get the chance to finally DO whatever it was you were waiting to do while in the Waiting Room.
But waiting is one of those things people simply can’t stand doing, because when you wait you don’t really DO much. It’s really just a lot of...NOT doing.
Which is why Waiting Rooms are usually packed with all kinds things for people to DO to help them NOT do a little easier: stuff to read, TVs, aquariums, coloring stations, pamphlets on various diseases.
Unlike a lot of people, I tend to LIKE Waiting Rooms precisely because there ISN’T anything to do in them. No one thinks you’re a lazy bum when you do nothing in a Waiting Room, because that’s kind of the whole point to the place.
The next time your in a Waiting Room - see how long you can just WAIT in it - no magazines, no cell phones, no emails, no coloring. Just sit and wait. You’ll be amazed at all that happens when nothing is happening; to say nothing of the hundreds of partial conversations you’ll be able to listen in on.
Where do you think we Preachers get all our ideas from?
As together we stand and sing.
BP
