Looking down at the vast waiting room, Theodore considered the meaning of life.
“What are you thinking, Teddy?” Sally asked. “You are obviously deep in thought.”
“What is everyone waiting for?” he said.
“Trains, silly,” she laughed.
“Yes, but —” he said. “The trains will take them to a destination, and you could say that’s where they’re going, or even that that’s what they’re waiting for, but what do they hope to find there? Are they waiting to fulfill that hope?”
“You are thinking way too hard,” she said. “Sometimes a train ride is just a train ride.”
“Yes, but —” he said. “And sometimes a wait is just a wait, I know. We spend much time waiting, but not so much time wondering why.”
“Why what?”
“Actually, no, why wait? If something is needed, why wait for it?”
“Did I just hear you advocate for instant gratification?”
He looked out over the waiting room bustling with activity and rows of people sitting and waiting.
“I don’t think so,” he said. “I know that some things take time, including gratification. Now that I think of it, it even takes time to figure out our ‘why.’ Often we do without fully understanding why we do it. What I’m advocating is not to waste your time and to be always working to know why.”
“OK,” Sally said and looked out over the vast waiting room. “So, what is everyone waiting for?”
Theodore smiled. “Trains, silly.”
She laughed. “I told you so.”
“To know what everyone is really waiting for,” he added, “we’d have to take the stairs and ask everyone, one at a time. How many people are down there?”
“I don’t know, a few hundred,” she said. “Could be more than a thousand.”
“I agree,” Theodore said. “And so they are waiting for more than a thousand things. None of them is waiting for exactly the same thing, and they have more than a thousand reasons for doing so.”
“I don’t know why I talk to you,” Sally laughed. “My brain keeps exploding.”
“I do know why I talk to you,” he grinned. “I love to make your head explode.”
“Oh, you do, do you?” she said. “You are quite the explosive fellow.”
They stood in silence a little while longer until their train was announced.
