The bus was supposed to arrive at 6:15. It turned up at 6:23. Eight minutes late. Eight minutes in which I transformed from a calm citizen to a pacing tiger outside a zoo cage. I looked at my watch, scowled at the road, and mentally composed angry letters to the New York transport department.
And then, in those same eight minutes, the world decided to entertain me. A little boy on a balcony was trying to get his kite to fly, and his mother, instead of scolding him for leaning dangerously out, laughed as she helped him tug at the string. A dog barked fiercely at its own reflection in a shop window, stopping only to glance back and see if anyone was applauding its bravery. The streetlight above flickered, as if trying to say, “I’ll join the drama too!”
It struck me that life doesn’t collapse in eight minutes. But oh, how we behave as if it does! We act as though a delay is the end of the world. Haven’t we all? A flight delayed by half an hour and we start writing tragic obituaries of our missed connections. A train running late and we immediately assume a vast conspiracy by the railways against us personally. A WhatsApp message that takes longer than two blue ticks to arrive, and we start wondering if our friends have abandoned us forever.
Delays, I realized that evening, are less about buses and trains and more about us. They reveal the fragile scaffolding of our patience. They show whether we see the pause as punishment or as possibility. For me, that late bus became a mirror: the world didn’t owe me constant punctuality. But it did offer me a chance to notice things I would otherwise speed past.
Imagine if every delay were actually a gift-wrapped moment. A chance to breathe. To watch. To even smile. I thought of King Hezekiah in the Bible who, when threatened, didn’t pace but spread the problem before God. Or Daniel, who didn’t agitate the lions by pacing nervously but waited calmly. Maybe delays are heaven’s gentle nudge to stop roaring and start resting.
Of course, when the bus finally came, I clambered aboard with my usual grim face. But in my heart I chuckled, thinking: those eight minutes weren’t wasted. They were invested. Invested in a memory of a kite, a dog, a flickering lamp — and in discovering that my impatience needs more discipline than the transport department does.
So the next time life runs eight minutes late — or even eighty — maybe we should all stop pacing and start noticing. Because in the little delay, life may be whispering its loudest truths.
The Author conducts an online, eight session Writers and Speakers Course. If you’d like to join, do send a thumbs-up to WhatsApp number 9892572883 or send a message to bobsbanter@gmail.com
