As I said in my previous post I have known Phil for about 7 years. He is a little older than my eldest so it gives me a glimpse on what changes will occur in my kids when they move from their mid-twenties to their early thirties. Obviously my sample size is only one person so it’s naive to think that all people act and grow up the same way. However, I do believe that most of us experience the sane metamorphis from teen, to young adult, to adult.

On our last trip together I noticed a  subtle change in Phil. He has become less patient.   For example, he was less patient with he anglers around us. If they walked too close to the edge of the river where we were fishing he would ask them to move away in a slightly scolding manner. He also commented how it irked him when other fisherman would jump ahead of us so they could fish a pristine spot before we had a chance. When I first met Phil these things never seemed to bother him. Like all of us Phil was just getting older.

For most of us unfortunately this trend of impatience only gets worse as we grow older. This lack of patience manifests itself in different ways.  We have less patience for ineptness, we have less patience for incompetence, and at times we just have less patience for people who don’t do something the way we think it should be done.  I call this the “crodgidy old man syndrome”.  Who wants to be around a crodgidy old man?  No one.

Being patient with people is a great virtue that I try to  embrace every morning before I start a new day.  I try not to succumb to the “crodgidy old man syndrome”.  It makes the world better place for everyone I touch.